Tales of Xillia 2: Dark Age
by Mage of Hope
Summary: 11 years has passed since the events of Tales of Xillia, and Rieze Maxia and Olympios have forged a strong bond together ever since. However, new evil beings called Dark Spirits have threatned to kill both human and spirit. 7 years later, it's up to 9 new heroes to go back in time and save the world before it becomes corrupted like in their future. Contains many changes!
1. Prologue

**Hey there, everyone! This is my first ever, Tales of Xillia fanfic! The first Tales fanfic I wrote was Tales of the Abyss, but that doesn't matter right now! Anyways, this story takes place 18 years after the sequel of Tales of Xillia.**

**It's not exactly related to Tales of Xillia 2, and there are no armored shells that Ludger uses in battles in this future. However, there are a lot of new creations in the future, and Jude and Milla's adventures are famous throughout the world. Elle still exists, of course, but there are a LOT of changes in this story. With that said, we'll do the disclaimer and get it over with!**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Tales of Xillia, only the OCs. **

* * *

_The future is a bright future that people unite with one another and work together. About 11 years has passed since Rieze Maxia and Elympios has untied and worked together to form one, complete new world that helps each other in desperate times. Spyrixes are no longer used, rather destroyed, but are well known throughout the two worlds. Instead, Spyrites have taken over their place, and people have been using them very well without harming spirits, many using them as pets. _

_One day, something happened, and dark beings similar to the good nature spirits appeared out of nowhere and started attacking everything in both worlds, both humans and spirits alike. They are called Dark Spirits, and each contain a large mass of power, making them very powerful. Of course, they do have weaknesses, but the people are still outmatched and outnumbered. This event, even now, became known as the Dark Age._

_The new king of Rashugal, Agil, a hardworking and caring man chosen by the people of Rashugal, and Gaius, the current king of Auj Oule, have decided to shrug off their ancestor's bad relationship with the two empires and decided to start anew as cooperative two nations that work together for specific reasons, such as their good relationship with each other, and because of the Dark Age. _

_King Agil is very tall and big-boned, with dark skin and black hair. He has many nicknames, such as, 'the Giant King,' or 'The Mountain,' from his people. He believes what he thinks is right and listens to reason, and when he makes a mistake, he atones for it, something Gaius respects him for. The King is not married, but the Dark Age is a muhc bigger issue at this point._

_Townspeople and villagers, whose homes were burned and wiped out from existences from Dark Spirits, begged for shelter and refuge from the two kingdoms. Of course, not even all of Auj Oule or Rashugal can take a large amount of people, so they decided to take only the sick, young, and elderly while everyone else had to sleep outside with the guards on watch. The smoke coming from the fires in villages and towns were killing a lot of crops and plants throughout the world, and rivers and streams became polluted with human blood, and bodies._

_The people were trying to grow more crops and get new, fresh water, but they're struggling, and luckily, they manage to conjure up something every now and then. The large, steel gates from the two nations kept the Dark Spirits out, making it impossible for them to get in. Even if one of them does somehow managed to get in, every soldier is prepared and fires at any Dark Spirit at sight. _

_Now, 7 more years has passed, and the Dark Age is still happening in the world, but there are survivors. 9 heroes will one day, rise up, and save the world. How? This is how... _

* * *

"Lady Sophia! Lady Sophia! Prince Florian!" cried out a soldier of Kanbalar, rushing towards a young looking girl about 12 years old, and a boy much younger than her before kneeling on one knee and bowing his head. "I have urgent news!"

"Yes, go on," replied the girl named Sophia politetly.

"What happened to Mom and Dad?!" cried the boy named Florian.

"His Majesty, the Queen, and a large amount of soldiers have been defeated in battle! They have fought bravely and took down literally a large army of Dark Spirits! Unfortunely, they couldn't take another large wave and died in battle! His Majesty told me and a couple other soldiers to retreat, to give you a message, and something else!" reported the soldier.

King Gaius, the ruler of Auj Oule, has fallen in love and married Muzet, sister to Milla Maxwell. It was about 8 years after Exodus has been defeated and Spyrites were invented. They have gotten married and gave birth to a baby boy, which happened to be 10-year old Florian, which is a half-human, half-spirit.

"N-no way..." gasped Florian, dropping to his knees in shock and despair. He couldn't believe it...His father was the king of Kanbalar, and the ruler of Auj Oule, while his mother is a full blooded spirit. How could this happen?! Two of one of the most powerful people were killed in battle, and they were never coming back to him!

"...What is it you wish to bring to us?" asked Sophia calmly, as if she wasn't fazed by the news.

"Y-yes! Here!" The soldier handed formely to Sophia some kind of scroll.

Before Sophia opened the scroll, she asked, "Does the people know about what happened?"

"No, Lady Sophia! Not yet! Unless you want us to spread the news right now."

"No, don't. If you do, that'll cause chaos. Instead, tell Commander Seth to come to the throne room later. Also, tell the others that managed to come back here, not to tell anyone else about the battle unless I say so," ordered Sophia. "This is an order from Lady Sophia, niece of King Gaius."

Despite her age, Sophia really is the niece of King Gaius and Queen Muzet, which makes Florian her cousin. That meant that Milla Maxwell is Sophia's mother, and Jude Mathis is her father, making her another half-spirit, half-human. However, she's in charge of most of the things while her uncle and aunt are away, since she has more responsibility than her cousin.

"Understood." With that said, the soldier left the throne room.

Florian was crying silently to himself, and Sophia knew he needed to let all his emotions out, unlike her, who kept her emotions still at any time. She waited until Florian had stopped crying, then he turned to her and said, "I'm sorry, Sophia. I was crying, but I didn't consider your feelings. I'm so sorry."

Sophia shook her head and smiled a little. "It's alright. You deserve to grief, after hearing that...that news."

"Hey, aren't you going to open that scroll?" asked Florian, refering to the scroll Sophia had in her hands. Sophia had completely forgotten about that opened it wide enough for her and Florian to read it.

**Dear, sweet Sophia and dear Florian,**

**I don't have much time to explain, and your father/uncle is currently fighting off the Dark Spirits as I write this. While me and your father/uncle were traveling to stop the Dark Spirits, I thought, what if I used my dimensional powers to also create a portal that travels through time? A few hours ago, I concentrated all of my power, and I managed to make a hole big enough for a person to fit in. I peeked inside, and I saw a place that was perfectly clean, no polluted water, no blood, no Dark Spirits, nothing! I saw lots of people, happily living together.**

**Florian, I know you have the power to create dimensional holes, like I showed you before. We didn't have time to practice, but you were able to create one small hole. Using the power of the Four Great Spirits, you should be able to conjure up enough strength to shove enough people inside a time portal. I'm sorry, but I must go. **

**From, your dearest aunt/mother, Muzet. **

"Did you hear that?! We may have found a way to defeat the Dark Spirits once and for all!" cried Florian, excited. "This is great news! We have to tell everyone!"

"Wait, not yet," said Sophia. "We can't act rashly, or we may lose the chance. For now, let's also call up Aunt Karla and Alicia to the throne room as well." She turned to one of the soldiers guarding the doors and ordered, "You there, Soldier! Call for Lady Karla and her daughter, Alicia to come to the throne room!"

"Yes, Lady Sophia!" A few minutes later, an older looking woman with black hair tied in a ponytail and wearing glasses with a young, 10-year old girl with long dark hair tied in a ponytail came into the room with an older looking man.

"Good. Everyone else besides the two guests and Commander Seth, leave us!" ordered Sophia. Immediantly after hearing that, all of the soldiers left, except for the five in the room.

Commander Seth was the only one who bowed down and kneeled in front of Sophia and Florian. "What is it you need?"

After explaining what happened to Muzet and Gaius in the battlefield, Commander Seth and the ten-year old girl looked shocked, and Karla, Gaius's sister, looked on the verge of tears.

"Uncle Gaius..? Aunt Muzet...? It can't be!" cried the ten-year old girl, named Alicia. She is a full-blooded human, unlike Sophia and Florian, who are half-blood.

"My brother...oh, my brother..." sobbed Karla, on her knees and crying her heart out.

"Although that is tragic news, we have the most greatest news of all," announced Sophia. "We have found a way to exterminate the Dark Spirits, for good."

"Really?! Beg pardon, Lady Sophia, but what news do you wish to tell us?" asked Commander Seth, excited.

"First, things first. Commander Seth, you have to become the new king of Kanbalar, and Auj Oule," ordered Sophia. "And this is not an order. You absolutely must, because me and Florian are far too young, and you are the only one who is capable of doing so, understand?"

"Understood," agreed Commander Seth, standing up. "We have no choice."

"Good. Now, before you take the throne, there is something else. You must tell the people about the deaths of King Gaius and Queen Muzet, as calmly as you can," said Sophia. "Of course, before you become king, you must have the people's support as well. And for exterminating the Dark Spirits, we have found a way to go back to time."

After Sophia explained everything as carefully as possible, Karla, who stopped crying, said, "Hmm...interesting. I won't deny Queen Muzet's power, or Prince Florian's power, but can Florian withstand the pain?"

"Um...well I've never actually tried making a time portal, but I can try," admitted Florian.

"If all works well, we may find the source of the Dark Spirits, then destroy it, so that the Dark Spirits may never be born," said Sophia. "Also, Commander Seth, we'll need to message King Agil about this too."

"Yes, understand. I'll go make the preparations. I say, we should tell the people tommorow," suggested Commander Seth.

"Yes, that is fine."

* * *

_A few months later... _

When Commander Seth told everyone about the deaths of Gaius and Muzet, the crowd was in a panic, but after several minutes, everyone seemed to have calm down. It didn't take very long for the people to decide that Commander Seth would be their new ruler. Also, a few days later, after the funeral of Gaius and Muzet, King Agil came and visited the new king, King Seth, and talked about politics and how to become a king.

All of Florian and Sophia's friends came to visit all at once one day. First, there was Recon, Alvin and Leia's son, who was two years older than Sophia. He had spiky light brown hair, like his mother, while he got his dark brown eyes and his cocky, sociable personality from his dad.

Second, Jiao, who was the son of Elize and another man. Jiao had blond hair and green eyes, and he always kept a stuffed talking doll named Jebo, similar to Teepo, except he had a green color. Jiao was nice, sometimes quiet, and kindhearted, while Jebo was always talkactive and speaks his own mind. Jiao is the same age as Sophia.

Stella, the daughter of Driselle and another man, was the adoptive cousin of Jiao, whose mother was adopted by Driselle who adopted Elize as her new sister. Stella had blond hair, clear blue eyes, and very gentle, but hesitant as well. She was clearly a year older than her cousin.

Aylen, the son of Isla and Yurgen, is best friends with Recon, has dark hair, and violet-colored eyes. He has a lot of respect for the elderly, is taught many life lessons from his mother, and carefully thinks his actions before doing them, trying not be like his mother from the past. Same age as Recon.

Evan, son of Ivar and another woman, is short-tempered, but cares for his friends a lot. He has dark skin, short silver hair, and black eyes.

Finally, Elle Mel Kresnik is the son of Ludger Will Kresnik and another woman. She has light brown hair tied in pigtails, blue eyes, and is very cheerful and kind, despite her tomboyish attitude. She is the oldest, being 15 years old.

In the past few months, there has been attacks of the Dark Spirits every now and then, but they weren't too serious. Meanwhile, everyone was training themselves so that they could become stronger and stronger to fight against the Dark Spirits, especially Florian, who has been improving dramatically every day.

Finally, the day came for when Florian was able to open a large time portal without breaking a sweat. All of the friends, including King Seth and King Agil, decided to met in the outskirts of Trigraph to perform the time portal ritual, which wouldn't be long.

Before Florian could perform the ritual, King Agil announced, 'Wait. Before we do this, we should consider the consequences of this. If you guys just dive in, you have no way of knowing where you'll end up. Worse, you may end up in different locations in different times. Even worse, you may not be able to return, even if you use your powers, Florian."

Everyone knew about the risks, since they spent the last few months training and thinking very hard, whether it was for heroic or selfish reasons. King Seth and King Agil would be the only ones not going with them, since they both had nations to serve and save.

"...We thought long and hard for this," announced Sophia, speaking for everyone else. "You think we wouldn't come through the portal if we didn't think this through? No, we have to prevent the Dark Spirits from coming. That's the only reason why. If we don't, the future won't be saved."

"Yes, you're right," said King Seth, agreeing with her.

Sophia turned to her friends that were going to the time portal, and called out, "Listen up, everyone! Once we're in the past, we'll probably never return! So, this is your last chance to say your farewells here and now! Also, I have one last request! Once we're in the past, I want you to refer to me as 'Phi!' Not Sophia! That's...that's no longer my name!"

"But why?" asked Stella, confused.

"If we go back to the past, we may encounter our past selfs," explained Sophia. "I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I don't ever want Milla Maxwell and Jude Mathis to know I'm their daughter."

Some flinched at the last sentence Sophia made. They knew she secretly hated her parents, but she would go this far to simply say their names, and not 'Mom' and 'Dad?'

"Okay, I understand," said Florian, nodding his head. Summoning the Four Great Spirits while moving his arms around in a circular position that created an ancient, elemental circle in mid-air, he concentrated with all his mana into making a simple, dimensional hole lasting for a few minutes. "So-"

Suddenly, screams filled the air as loud explosions were heard throughout the city. Everyone turned and saw Dark Spirits coming from a huge hole in the city's hard walls, attacking anyone in sight.

"Dark Spirits?! They invaded this place?! But that's impossible! The walls are as hard as a mountain!" cried King Seth, ready to fight.

Then, a very large figure was shown towering over a tall building. Everyone thought it was a centipede, but they realized it wasn't, and it was about ten meters long, and his dark body was divided into numerous parts that was more of a human spine than an insect. Sharp legs made of bones could be seen protruding from every joint, at the end of the hideous skull, was two pairs of sharp eye sockets, and it had a row of full sharp teeth, and two massive arms the shape of scythes.

"Damn! The Dark Spirits had something this strong?!" cursed King Agil. "Hurry up! You have to get to the portal! We'll hold the Dark Spirits off, even if it costs us our lives!"

"Way ahead of you!" shouted Recon before he, Aylen, and Evan jumped in first. Next, Elle, Stella, Jiao, and Alicia jumped in next, leaving only Florian and Sophia left.

"Hurry, Florian! They're coming!" yelled Sophia, glancing back her shoulder to see Florian still keeping the time portal up while the Four were trying to help him.

"I'll go after you!" cried Florian. "If I jump in first, the hole will close! Go in, I'll go in after!"

Nodding, Sophia ran in front of the portal, but before she could jump in, she heard the sounds of fighting and saw some soldiers, King Agil, and King Seth trying to fight off a horde of Dark Spirits. Then, Florian pushed her into the portal, shocking her as she turned and saw Florian with a sad smile on her face.

"DAMN IT! FLORIAN!" Sophia screamed as she was falling into whatever timeline she was going through.

* * *

**Whew! I'm down for the Prologue of this chapter! In the next chapter, I'll reveal all of the OCs, but for the time being, we'll focus on only one future OC, while the rest will come later in the future. Anyways, please give me any ideas for this story if you have any.**


	2. Future OCs list!

**Like I promised, here are the future OCs, and what their strengths and weaknesses are! That's all I have to say for today, so enjoy! **

* * *

OC: Phi Matthews (Sophia Mathis)

Gender: Female

Age: 12 (currently)

Parents: Jude Mathis and Milla Maxwell.

Species: Half-human, half-spirit.

Personality: Phi is loyal, a little strict and coldhearted, firm, mature, calm, and serious. She is also a hardworker,serious, and never gives up in accomplishing her goals. Even so, she has a kindhearted heart and speaks softly in conversations, but is mostly very quiet. She doesn't hesitate to strike down or kill her enemies. She secretly hides her emotions, and rarely show them in battle. She's often annoyed when someone points out her flatchest.

Appearance: A petite young girl that's taller than Elize and Florian, but still shorter than everyone else. She has short black hair that's down to her neck and tied in a low ponytail, and amber-colored eyes, making her very alike like her father. She wears a dark blue martial arts robe that's sleeveless with a dark obi sash tied around her waist, long black arm bands, and combat bracers. She also wears traditional Chinese does with white socks.

Weapons: Hand-to-hand-combat, and a katana.

Fighting style: Phi usually fights hand-to-hand combat, and her attacks have great speed and agility, leaving little time to counterattack. She is the fastest out of all the future children. She also holds skill in wielding a katana, but not as much skill as her hand-to-hand combat. She also can cast high level artes since she is a half-spirit, half-human, and has a lot of mana. However, she takes a bit of time casting artes. Her Lillium Orb is Agility.

Weaknesses: Since she is very fast, her defence and strength aren't much, so she can receive a fatal blow. Also, it takes a while for her to cast artes, and her magic defence isn't much either. Therefore, she isn't very good in defence or strength.

* * *

OC: Florian

Gender: Male

Age: 10

Parents: Gaius and Muzet

Species: Half-human, half-spirit.

Personality: He is kind-hearted, playful, and cheerful, like his mother. Like his father, he cares deeply for the well-being and happiness of his citizens and wants to work hard so when he becomes the next king, he'll help more people. Of course, he is well-behaved and studies hard, but he is still playful.

Appearance: Dark hair with greenish-yellow eyes. He wears some green light Chinese clothing that's used in battle and combat boots while wearing white fingerless gloves.

Weapons: Short, light twin daggers.

Fighting style: Florian is very quick, but his attacks are low. He is a master of wielding daggers, a result of his training. He can also cast high artes much faster than Phi, thanks to his skill, or due to the Four Great Spirits help. He can summon the Four Great Spirits in case of an emergency. His Lillium Orb is Intelligence, making him a very good offensive magic caster.

Weaknesses: His defence isn't very good, and he doesn't many much strength, making him vulnerable to attack, if he wasn't quick enough already.

* * *

OC: Alicia

Age: 10

Parents: Karla Outway and some man

Species: Human

Personality: Caring, intelligent, more determined, and often cheerful. She loves to paint, and wishes to be a teacher, like her mother.

Appearance: Black hair tied in a ponytail, black eyes, and wears casual, winter clothing.

Weapons: Guns

Fighting style: She can wield guns easily, plus she's an excellent long-range user, able to cast Spirit artes, but only offensive ones. Her Lillium Orb is Stamina, giving her energy.

Weaknesses: It takes a few seconds for her to reload her guns, and when she's forced into close-range, she can't defend herself. Plus, she spents too much mana at once.

* * *

OC: Stella

Gender: Female

Age: 13

Parents: Driselle and another man.

Species: Human

Personality: Very kind-hearted and gentle. However, she is hesitant in killing humans, while she can easily kill monsters. Due to that, she is fragile, and can't handle outbursts.

Appearance: Long blond hair tied in a braid, and sea-blue eyes. She wears a red coat with a black diamond design, a black skirt, and black laced, heeled boots.

Weapons: Rapier

Fighting style: She has high magic defence, as her Lilium Orb is Mind, giving her the highest magic defence. She is a skilled master rapier, being trained by Rowen and able to endure a lot of attacks. Her Lilium Orb is based on Stamina, giving her the most stamina in the party.

Weaknesses: She can't cast artes that well, and often messes up and forgets the incantations for the artes. Also, since her weapon is based on agility, her attacks doesn't have much strength.

* * *

OC: Recon Rolando

Gender: Male

Age: 14

Parents: Alvin and Leia Rolando

Species: Human

Personality: Cocky, sociable, and easygoing, like his father. He also seems laidback, and cares for his friends. He is best friends with Aylen, since their fathers are partners in a business together.

Appearance: Spiky light brown hair and dark brown eyes. He wears a black shirt with a brown overcoat, brown leather pants, brown boots, and the same kind of scarf Alvin wears, which originally belonged to his father before he gave it to him.

Weapons: Gun and Staff

Fighting style: He has the highest strength stats, as soon as his primary Lilium Orb is Strength. He also seem to be very powerful with physical artes and physical defence, making it very hard to take him down, especially since he wields two weapons.

Weaknesses: He's not very good at casting Spirit artes, and his speed is very slow, possibly even slower than the others.

* * *

OC: Jiao

Gender: Male

Age: 12

Parents: Elize Lutus and some other guy.

Species: Human

Personality: Nice, sometimes quiet and shy, and speaks in a soft voice, making him very gentle and fragile due to the future he lived in, which was dark and scary. He doesn't stand up for himself, but Jebo does it for him, and Jebo is considered Jiao's first and best friend. Jiao was named from Elize's caretaker, Jiao, before he died. He also tends to be clumsy and easily duped. His kind nature and nervousness makes him a victim of bullies.

Appearance: Blond hair, green eyes, and he wears a white dress shirt, a gray vest, a red tie, gray knee-length pants, and a pair of boots.

Weapons: Staff.

Fighting style: He is one of the future children able to use healing artes and dark spirit magic, like his mother. He mainly focuses on healing artes rather than offensive magic, though. He is the best healer in the party, and only one of the two healers. His Lilium Orb is based on Intelligence and Mind.

Weaknesses: He is very weak in defence, and is possibly the worse attacker in the team, making his physical attacks useless against the enemy. He is very vulnerable and the enemy can strike him at any time.

OC: Jebo

Gender: Male

Age: Unknown

Parents: None

Personality: Very talkactive and more outgoing than Jiao, who's more quieter. He seems to be the 'person who can't shut up for two seconds.' He speaks his mind and will insult enemies, and tend to be quite rude.

* * *

OC: Aylen

Gender: Male

Age: 14

Parents: Isla and Yurgen

Species: Human

Personality: Very mature, but a bit short-tempered sometimes. He's also more intelligent than his best friend, Recon, which annoys him to no end. Ever since hearing his mother's past, he started showing respect for the elderly, and thinks his actions carefully before performing them. He gained the ability to speak to monsters from his father. He also likes to write poems and short stories as a hobby.

Appearance: Dark hair with violet-colored eyes. He wears tradional Auj Oule clothes.

Weapons: Sword.

Fighting style: He is the second great offensive user in the party, making him very useful. Also, he has some skill in casting magic, and can communicate with monsters and try to negotiate with them. He's also a skilled swords user. His Lilium Orb is with Strength and Defence.

Weaknesses: He can't negotiate with Dark Spirits, considering they aren't even animals to begin with. Plus, his speed's really slow, but he's faster than Recon.

* * *

OC: Evan

Gender: Male

Age: 14

Parents: Ivar and some other woman.

Species: Human

Personality: He is short-tempered and persistent, like his father. However, he cares for his family and friends a lot, and will do reckless acts to save them,even if it means risking his life. He finds his dad really annoying sometimes, but he is a good mechanic.

Appearance: Dark skin, short silver hair, and black eyes. He wear red martial arts clothing, and fur cotted boots.

Weapons: Claws and daggers.

Fighting style: He is the second fastest person in the party and deals great damage to opponents. He can easily see through an enemy's blind spots, and target them. He is also the second person who can talk to animals, making it easier for him to negotiate with animals. His Lilium Orb is based on Agility and Stamina.

Weaknesses: Like Aylen, he can't talk to Dark Spirits, but he can get a fatal blow easily due to his low defence and intelligence, like the many scars he has on his body. He usually charges in without thinking, like the hot-tempered idiot he is.

* * *

OC: Elle Mel Kresnik

Gender: Female

Age: 15

Parents: Ludger Will Kresnik and some woman.

Species: Human

Personality: She's outgoing, upbeat, friendly, cheerful, and kind. However, she is tomboyish as well, making all of the boys pretty scared of her, especially when she's angry and ready to kill someone. She owns a cat named Lulu and she's more of a cat person. She likes reading and drawing, and her favorite foods are fruits.

Appearance: Light brown hair in pigtails, blue eyes, wears a blue dress shirt with a red tie, black shorts, and black combat boots.

Weapons: Short dual blades and throwing knives.

Fighting style: In close combat, she attacks swiftly using her dual blades, but when she's at far range, she uses her throwing knives, and is an excellent markswoman. She is the second best healer, and can perform healing or supportive artes to boost her allies. Her Lillium Orb is based on Intelligence and Agility.

Weaknesses: She doesn't have much attack, and she's hesitant when one of her allies is fighing an enemy at close range, and she doesn't know when to throw her knive, so she's worried she might hit her ally.


	3. Infiltrating Fort Gandala

**Alright! The first chapter to the saga! Well, I think I mentioned this before, but we're only going to be focusing on one future character for the moment, and that'll be Phi, aka Sophia. So, I think you'll enjoy her personality, even if she is rude sometimes.**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Tales of Xillia, only the OCs. **

* * *

"Gah!" screamed Phi, falling out of the portal and facedown in the ground. "Damn it! Florian, you idiot!" Phi looked up, and her first glimpse of the past was rather an alarming one. She turned her head, and saw lots of cliffs, and figured she was in some sort of canyon. But where exactly was she?

_'Hmm...If this is the past, everything looks normal, then. No Dark Spirits. Sure, there are monsters here, but luckily, there aren't any Dark Spirits,' _thought Phi, thinking hard. Then, she turned around and saw a boar glaring at her from far away. Without warning, it started charging towards her.

Phi, wanting to test the past monsters, got out her katana and got into a stance. With a low yell, Phi jumped off the ground and in a blink of an eye, struck the boar right in the neck, giving it a pitiful scream before laying on the ground, dead. Satisfied, Phi sheathed her katana and walked while observing the area. The monsters here were way weaker than the ones she fought back in her future, so it shouldn't be difficult fighting the monsters in this timeline.

After a few minutes, Phi wondered what she should do. She doesn't have a map, but she remembers completely about Jude and Milla's adventures, and wonders if she should change them, even a little. She doesn't think she's been to this kind of area back in the future, so she wonders where she's going.

**BANG! BANG! BANG! **Immediantly after hearing the gun shot sounds, Phi somersaulted into the air, hoping to dodge any bullets that were aimed at her. However, the gun shots seemed to come from above, and not at her, so she looked up to see three men on top of a cliff, fighting some monsters.

Phi backed away a little to clearly see their faces, and saw one of them was Rowen J. Illbert, the man who was Stella's rapier teacher, and he still looked the same like in her future. Rowen supposedly died in battle against the Dark Spirits, and Phi only met him a few times, and one time, she requested for a sparring match. She lost, and was surprised at Rowen's strength. She wondered if she was equally matched with him now in this timeline.

The second man was Alvin, Recon's dad. If she recalled, he used to be a mercenary back in the old days. Looks like he still is, at least in this timeline. Phi only met the guy only one time when she was very young, and he wasn't a bad guy. In fact, he looked way younger than in the future. Too bad he died in the battle of Dark Spirits protecting his wife, Leia.

And then there was Jude. Yes, Jude. Despite him being her own father, Phi absolutely DESPISES him to no end. She completely recognized him the moment she saw him, and hatred started filling her body. Back in her future, he looked a lot older, but he died when she was only 5, so it doesn't matter at this point. The reason why she hates him is, well, that's a story for another day.

"Whew! Didn't expect the monsters here to be this tough," sighed Alvin, reloading his gun. "And I don't like this wind. It's messing up my hair." The trio jumped down from the cliff and started walking towards Phi's direction, and Phi was hiding behind a huge rock near another cliff.

_'They're finished?! I have to hide!' _thought Phi, her heart beating in panic as she tried to find a good hiding spot so that she doesn't get spotted. Finally, she spotted a hole big enough for her small size to fit in near the cliff and crawled through there.

"We gotta hurry, though," reminded Jude.

"He's right. We must hurry and rescue Lady Driselle and the others," agreed Rowen. Phi sighed in relief when they footsteps passed the hole she was currently hiding in.

_'Rescue Lady Driselle and the others?' _wondered Phi, thinking. _'That means that Rowen, Alvin, and Jude went to Fort Gandala...to rescue Milla, Elize, and Driselle. Hey! That means I went 18 years into the past!' _

Phi quickly crawled out of the hole and watched as the three silhouettes faded away deeper into the canyon. As she was quietly chasing after them and hiding, she thought, _'If they're going to Fort Gandala, then that means this is Talys Highroad! I've never actually been here, though.' _

About a few hours later, once realizing that Jude and his group are very near to Fort Gandala, Phi had to hide close enough for her to hear them, without them detecting her presence or hearing her footsteps. For the first time, Phi saw Fort Gandala.

Fort Gandala looked like a very large steel castle with steel fences all over, guarding the entrance. In addition, many soldiers were guarding the entrance as well, making this an impregnable defensive fort. In Phi's future, Fort Gandala has already been invaded and invested by Dark Spirits, making it no longer usable.

Phi saw Rowen, Jude, and Alvin behind the fences, hiding in plain sight. Hiding behind a huge rock outside of the fort, Phi turned her head and tried to get every word of the conversation the boys were saying while also hiding in a different area close to hers.

"So, this is Fort Gandala," Phi heard Jude say, astonished. "It looks like a steel castle."

"It was built to protect the trade routes," explained Rowen. "Ostensibly, anyway. But now, it would seem they have abandoned all pretense."

"So, how do we get in touch with your man on the inside?" asked Alvin, crossing his arms.

"Follow me," ordered Rowen before taking off to the back of the fort, causing both Jude and Alvin to follow him as well. Phi had no other choice but to follow them as well, while hiding. Phi saw the three of them at the back while she hid behind a fence. There were no guards, just a few metal boxes, and a large shaft at the top.

"Jude, I need you to climb into that shaft," commandered Rowen. "Tap on the wall once, twice, and twice again. If you hear three taps followed into one, that means everything is ready."

Jude nodded before using the metal boxes to climb up to the shaft. About a few moments later, he called, "I got the go sign."

"Good, let's proceed," suggested Rowen before he and Alvin started climbing up the shaft as well. After they started climbing through the shaft, Phi ran out of her hiding spot and started climbing the metal boxes before entering the shaft. As she started climbing through the shaft as quietly as possible, she heard the sounds of the three also climbing, so she laid low and tried to follow them as quietly as she could, following their sounds and where they were heading.

Finally, Phi saw the exit and saw Jude jump out of the exit. It seems he was the last to go, so she hid behind a small wall near the exit and started listening. She couldn't completely make clear of what was in the room, but she did see a Rashugal soldier, but he didn't seem to be attacking anyone.

"Please, hurry!" pleaded the Rashugal soldier. Was that soldier on Jude's side, temporarily? If that was the case, then that meant that some of the soldiers were supporting in Driselle's escape as well.

"Good work," thanked Rowen. "You have my gratitude and that of the late Lord Cline."

Phi frowned. She heard that Cline was a very good man, and was once the brother of Driselle. Unfortunely, he was killed in an assassination caused by King Nactigal. If he was still alive, then maybe he would have been the next new ruler of Rashugal.

"Everyone in the fortress has heard what happened in Sharilton," explained the Rashugal soldier. "It's hard for any of us to come grips with this."

"I'd offer my shoulder to cry on, but we're kinda in a hurry here," said Alvin impatiently. "What's going on? The short version."

"Of course! Lady Driselle and the others are locked in a cell on the second floor. But that's not the worst of it. All the prisoners have had their legs bounded with hex shackles."

Letting out a small 'tch,' Phi frowned once more. In her future, hex shackles were now considered illegal and were to be destroyed on sight, just like with Dark Spirits. She always hated hex shackles, due to the fact that they explode once someone enters into a red zone with them. She was so glad her deceased uncle made them illegal.

"If anyone wearing one of those walks through a hex zone, like that one over there, then it's designed to explode," explained the soldier. Phi peeked out of the shaft and saw some sort of red floating hexagon near the area near Jude and the others. Luckily, it doesn't affect those who doesn't have hex shackles.

"What?!" exclaimed Jude. "So even if we free them from their cells, they won't be able to escape until we can disable those shackles?"

"It would take far too long to track down the keyholder," said Rowen. "I suggest we seize the fortress' control room, instead. Then, we can deactive the whole security system."

"We've been unable to pin down the control room's location. I'm sorry," apologized the soldier.

"Don't worry. We'll figure the rest out. You've been a real help," assured Jude.

"Not to put the cart before the horse, but we should make sure we have a way out of here," said Alvin.

"Would you see to our escape plan?" requested Rowen.

"Yes, sir. We'll commandeer a carriage. Here, you'll need this key. It allows you to operate the elevators," offered the soldier, giving Rowen a key. Phi glanced out of the shaft and saw Rowen, Jude, and Alvin entering through a door, completely unharmed. Phi planned to follow them, but there were some soldiers guarding the area they were once in. She didn't want to attract attention to herself, so she had to come up with a plan to distract the soldiers for a few moments.

She saw a rock besides her, picked it up, and threw it at a wall, which bounced back and hit one of the soldiers protecting the hex soldier looked around, confused. While he was being confused, Phi started gathering as much fire spirits as she could to cast an arte that was enough to bring smoke to the area for a few moments.

"Oh, flickering flame burn...Fireball," muttered Phi, aiming for the ground. At once, she fired multiple fireballs, bringing up smoke and destruction in the area, but not harming any of the soldiers. The soldiers in that area went into a panic and started shouting, trying to find who fired the fireballs and brought up the smoke. Immediantly, Phi jumped down without making the slighest sound and opened the door Jude and the others went into before running in.

Once she was in the next area, she realized she was on top of a steel bridge, it seems. "Hey!" Phi turned and saw a female soldier charging towards her with weapons. Immediantly, Phi unsheathed her katana and cut through the woman before proceeding.

Finally, Phi saw what seemed to be an elevator and pressed the button next to it. Unfortunely, the doors didn't open, and she remembered that Jude and the others had the key to the elevators, and she didn't. She jumped down from the railings of the first floor and down into possibly the first floor. Quickly, she picked out a random door from the first floor and entered inside before any guards noticed her.

She saw a room with lots of boxes in them, so she figured something must be here. She swiftly leaped through the boxes and found a small vent before crawling through she got through it, she saw three guards with three big shields. The one in the middle with the bigger shield must have been the leader.

"Huh?! Who are you?!" exclaimed the leader, as he and his allies got ready. Phi, knowing that hand-to-hand combat won't work well against shield0wielding foes like them, drew her katana. Then, she put her left foot forward, adjusted her center of gravity, and suddenly-

**SWOOSH! **The girl disappeared at the same time as some sort of sound like a sonic boom impacted the shield wielders. Phi stopped moving with her body low to the ground far away from where she had started as the guards were still searching for her. She completed her technique by swinging her katana towards her sheathe.

Among the two soldiers, one of them suddenly had a slash on their neck and fell forward, dead. The two remaining guards still didn't know what happened as they were trying to find the girl who suddenly disappeared in front of them. They were still dumbfounded as Phi stood up and turned towards them, once again gracefully bringing her katana into position.

Taking the soldiers distraction to an advantage, Phi sliced a soldier in half, announcing his end. The only one left was the leader, and he didn't realize that Phi had sliced through his second ally until before his demise came.

Phi sighed before cleaning the blood off her blade before sheathing it. She searched through the dead bodies, looking for the key for the control room. She didn't like looting dead bodies, but this was an emergency. Finally, she picked up a fresh looking key before putting it in her small pocket and leaving the room.

When she got out, she saw Jude, Alvin, and Rowen nearby what seems to be an elevator. Jude was examining the door and finally, he said, "It looks like some kind of elevator, similar to the one we took. Maybe I should use the key."

"Isn't that obvious?" questioned Phi, sounding annoyed as she slowly approached in their direction.

Alvin, Jude, and Rowen quickly turned around and saw a young, petite girl looking back at them. For some reason, they thought she looked a lot like Jude. "Gah!" cried Alvin, surprised. "Who the hell are you?!"

"..." Phi didn't say anything, but only waited for one of the three to say something.

"Um...hello? Come on, can't you nod or something?" asked Alvin. Once again, Phi didn't say antyhing. "Right um...let's try something else then. _Why _are you here?" Again, Phi didn't say a thing. "No response, little lady? You always this friendly or what?"

"Who's there?!" cried out a voice. Everyone turned and saw a horde of guards and a very large monster coming in their direction.

"Less talking, more fighting!" ordered Rowen, unsheathing his saber as Jude, Alvin, and Phi got ready to fight.

"Cerbeus Strike!" yelled Jude, kicking a guard three times before sending him up in the air. Alvin quickly shot the guard that was in the air, killing him.

The large monster that had a shield in his horn tried to headbutt and strike the four heroes, but Phi charged forward, jumped into the air, then kicked the monster so hard and fast that it crashed into one of the machines, greatly damaged. Phi leaped into the air again, and came down towards the monster, punching it in the back. The bones of the monster snapped with a loud crunch and his body went limp, dead.

Everyone who saw that were shocked. They didn't seriously think a little girl like Phi would have that much strength. "...Whoa," said Alvin.

While evryone was distracted, Rowen took this chance and started gathering water spirits. "Fangs of ice, roar forth! Freeze Lancer!" A portal appeared in front of the butler, which multiple shards of ice are launched at the guards in a straight line. Two people went down, but the rest had their shields up.

With a loud cry, the guards charged forwards with their lances and swords. However, Alvin and Rowen had an advantage due to them having two martial artists sneaking up behind the guards and bashing their skulls in, or breaking their arms. While the guards were fending against Phi and Jude, Rowen attacked with artes or stabbed with his saber, while Alvin just fired his guns at the enemy's most vulerable spots. It didn't take long for them to defeat all of the guards.

Once they were done, Alvin sighed in relief. "Whew! That was a good workout!"

"That was tough, even for someone like myself," replied Rowen.

"...I'm plenty friendly," said Phi, finally speaking.

"What?' asked Alvin as he, Jude, and Rowen turned to her.

"I said, I'm plenty friendly. That's what you asked before, isn't it?"

"Hey, looks like the little lady can talk after all," said Alvin. "So, let's try this again. Why are you here?"

"Donno," was all Phi could say.

"...Alright, back to the first question. Who are you? By which I mean, what's your name?"

"...My name's Phi," answered Phi, finally having no choice but to trust these three.

"Five?" wondered Jude.

"Phi! P-H-I! Phi!"

"Hmm...interesting name," commented Rowen. "And how do we know you're not lying?"

"And how am I supposed to prove it to you?" asked Phi. "Well, I can tell you I'm not one of the Rashugal soldiers. I'm also not a spy, or anything like that, so you needn't worry."

"Come on, guys. I'm sure she won't do us harm," said Jude.

"Keep thinking like that, and you'll get killed one day, sir," warned Phi coldly.

"So, you are a spy?" wondered Alvin.

"I'm just saying it's a possibility," said Phi. "Anyways, why are you here?"

"And why should we tell you that, when you haven't exactly given us answers? I don't like being rude to little ladies like you, but in this situation, it's different," said Alvin.

"...Ah. Are you here to free some prisoners?" asked Phi, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, how do you know that?" asked Jude.

"I figured as much. Three suspicious guys, not dressed like the soldiers here, and wandering around as if they were lost. Well, if you're here to free some prisoners, that means I'm on your side then."

"What do you mean?" asked Rowen.

"The only reason I'm here is to...save a friend who was taken here," lied Phi. The only reason she lied was so that the three don't get suspicious of her, and she wanted to travel with them. "I know all about the hex shackles, and how they explode if you enter a hex zone with one. I was trying to find the keys to that, and even if I manage to find one, if I'm lucky, I'll free any other prisoner. Until I free the prisoners, and your friends, of course, I'm stuck wth you."

"I'm sorry, miss, but we still cannot trust you," apologized Rowen.

"What if I told you I had a key?" questioned Phi, getting out the key from her pocket.

"Is that the key to the control room?" asked Jude, surprised. "Where did you get this?"

"I killed some guards that were attacking me and I saw a key. I thought it would free the hex shackles, but I'm not sure," said Phi, handing the key over to Rowen. "What's this key?"

"I think it's the key to the control room," said Rowen, after examining it. "Very well, you may join us, but we'll be keeping an eye on you."

"Good," said Phi, silently sighing in relief. "I'm sorry if I was rude before, I just assume you were soldiers."

"It's no problem," said Jude, forgiving her. "Oh! We forgot to introduce ourselves! My name's Jude Mathis, nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too," said Phi politely, silently fighting the urge not to hate him for the moment. "Like I said before, my name's Phi."

"Well, at least you have some proper manners. Maybe you'll grow up to be a fine lady with that kind attitude," teased Alvin. "I'm Alvin."

"And I am Rowen, a pleasure to meet you," introduced Rowen. "Now, let us be off."

It took a while to finally find the control room, due to all of the guards and monsters, plus all of the confusing rooms in the fort. Eventually, though, they found a large door that seemed to lead to the control room, and opened it.

"Nachtigal!" cried out a young woman's voice. **CLASH! **Phi was the first person to see what was going on, and recognized the woman as Milla Maxwell, her soon-to-be mother. Like her 'father,' she hated her as well for reasons unknown except to herself.

Milla, whose sword was being held by the man named Nachtigal, declared, "I am going to put an end to your petty ambitions right now!"

However, Nachtigal only grasped Milla's sword tightly, as if nothing hurted him. "So this girl is really supposed to be the Lord of Spirits? Oh please, don't make me laugh!" Nachtigal easily kicked away from him, removing her from her own sword and away from him.

Instantly, Phi leaped off the railings of the staircase and jumped down to Milla's side, getting out her katana and defending her defenceless body. Jude, Alvin, and Rowen ran in and saw Milla on the ground. "Are you alright, Milla?!" cried out Jude.

Nachtigal turned to Jude for a brief moment before turning away from him. "With the Lance of Kresnik, know that I will bring Auj Oule to its knees."

Jude jumped down from the railings and into the ground safely before giving Nachtigal an angry glance. "That's why...you attacked Sharilton?! How could you keep commiting these atrocities?!"

"Silence, boy! These matters are not meant for children such as you!" shouted Nachtigal.

"How dare you!" shouted back Jude, more angry.

Milla started to regain consciousness and tried to stand up, bringing Nachtigal's attention. "You didn't really think you can stop me, did you?" questioned Nachtigal before throwing Milla's sword back at her.

Phi quickly held out her katana to defend against the flying sword and protect Milla, but then Rowen jumped into the air, threw one of his knives, and deflected the blade, making Milla's sword fall to the ground.

"Hmm?" Nachtigal looked up, and saw that Rowen was on top of a flying, mana-enchanced wind kite that he created himself. "Illbert, is that you?"

"Wait, what?" gasped Jude, turning to Rowen. "The Illbert from the history books?! Illbert the Conductor?!"

"I knew he was just more than an old butler," muttered Alvin.

"What business could one who cast aside both his army and his kingdom have here?" questioned the man next to Nachtigal, who saw Rowen flying towards Driselle and Elize. Phi didn't realize they were here until she saw Rowen approach them.

Rowen stepped off his mana kite and went towards Driselle and Elize. "Lady Driselle, I'm so pleased to see you safe. I was besides myself with worry."

"Hmph, you have fallen far, Illbert," scoffed Nachtigal, disappointed. "But your new role as a servant suits you."

"Your Highness, this way," suggested the man. "You need not trouble yourself with these criminals any longer."

While the man and Nachtigal were leaving the room, Milla regained complete consciousness and picked up her sword. "Get back here!" she yelled, charging past the guards and running after Nachtigal before the door automatically closed.

"Milla!" cried Jude. However, he stopped in his tracks when the guards were preparing to fight them. "Get out of our way! Palm Strike. Jude ran forward and thrusted his palm forward, making one of the shield-user back away a little.

The other soldier tried to strike Jude with his lance, but Alvin arrived with his sword at hand. "Dragon Swarm!" Using his sword, he slashed up the lancer user that was about to kill Jude.

Phi stood up and an to where Jude was before running behind the soldier he was fighting, pouncing behind him and wrapping her arms around his throat so tightly, the soldier began to choke. Jude began a variety of punches to the soldier's stomach, and finally, Alvin finished him off with a bullet to the heart.

After defeating the two guards, Jude ran towards the closed doors and banged his hands against them, as if he wanted to pry the doors open. "Come on, Teepo! Wake up!" cried Elize, trying to wake up her stuffed doll, Teepo.

"We need to get this door open! Milla need us!" shouted Jude, after smashing his fists into the door.

"Everyone, listen up!" ordered Rowen. "We are out of options. I must obliterate the arte runes that run this facility. Doing so will open the doors and deactive the hex shackles."

"But this fortress is huge," reminded Driselle. "Its control inscription must be incredibly complex. Can you really destroy it?"

"Not on my own. I'll open a channeling circle. Everyone, pour your mana into it." Everyone nodded in agreement. "Ready yourselves." As if conducting an orchestra with just his fingers instead of the conducting stick, Rowen concentrated on creating a channeling circle with just his fingers. Once it was opened, everyone concentrated on their mana, and in a few seconds, the doors and the hex shackles opened. That was due to Phi's large amount of mana. Since she was a half-spirit, she had large amounts of mana in her body, and trained her body to surpress the pain of having so much mana, so that's why it worked.

As soon as the doors and hex shackles were opened, Jude and Phi ran towards the door, with everyone else calling out for them. **BOOM! **Jude and Phi opened another door just in time to hear a loud explosion and smoke filling the air.

Jude and Phi saw Milla on the ground besides all the smoke and rushed to her side. "Milla!" shouted Jude, putting her in his lap. He saw her burned legs, and gasped. "No way...you can't be! Milla!"

_'Damn it!' _thought Phi, cletching her fists tightly. _'Even though I hate Milla, she clearly didn't deserve this! If I have been much faster, then I would have been able to prevent this! I even had a chance to easily kill Nachtigal! The only reason I didn't was because he might be needed for something important for the future! Damnit! I just hope letting him go was the right choice!' _

"You three alright?! What's wrong?!" shouted Alvin as he and the others rushed into the room.

"She's...Elize! You have to heal her quickly!" said Jude, panicking.

"Wah! She doesn't look so good! She's all busted up!" cried Teepo as Elize and Jude started healing Milla's legs. For once, Phi wished she was a healer as well. She knew that Milla would lose her ability to use her legs, and she tried to change it. If only she entered the same time Milla entered that room before the doors closed!

"Come on, Milla! Open your eyes!" begged Jude. "Why?! Why did this have to happen?!"

Alvin cletched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth in anger. "I wish I could say."

"There they are! The escapees! Get them!" yelled out a guard.

"Time to go. Nothing else we can do here," said Alvin. "Let's get her back to Sharilton."

"Stop them! Activate the golems!" cried out another guard. Suddenly, huge beings made of steel were activated and started towards the group.

Phi quickly ordered, "You have to get out of here! I'll hold them off!"

"W-what are you saying?!" cried Jude as he and Alvin helped up the unconscious Milla. "You can't face them alone! You need-"

'Hurry up and go!" yelled Phi. "You have to help that girl, so hurry up! I'll be right behind you!"

"No, we can't just-"

"Ugh! For once, be selfish, you goody-two shoes!" shouted Phi, stomping towards Jude. She tossed him aside her shoulder and threw him near the carriage with all her might, making him yell in pain once he landed. "What are you all waiting for?! Go!"

Understanding their situation and Phi's situation, the others helped carried Milla into the carriage, and all of them took off into the exit, leaving Phi alone with four huge Golems and a few guards.

Once the others left, Phi blocked the way with her body and warned, "You will not pass here. If you want to pass, you'll have to go through me." Knowing that wasn't going to happen, Phi took a deep breath, and high-pitched screamed at the top of her lungs, letting out a loud battle cry that emitted sound waves through the area, stunning the guards. Since Phi has been trained by her uncle, Gaius, it was no surprise that he trained her in not only swordsmanship skills, but in environments as well. Due to that, Phi learned how to use a battle cry, which makes the user use the top of their lungs to let out a scream that can scare monsters away, depending on what they were.

Taking this chance, Phi ran towards a guard and delivered a powerful backwards roundhouse kick that created a sonic boom on impact and drove the guard towards a wall. Either the guard was dead, or knocked out.

Next, Phi faced the next guard, who tried to attack her with her spear. Phi stood on top of the spear, perfectly fine before delivering multiple foot stomps to the guard's face, knocking him out with one, final heavy stomp before leaping back. Next, she fought against a woman who was wielding dual blades. The woman tried to stab and sliced her with her own speed, but she wasn't as fast as Phi, who easily dodged all of them.

Phi delivered multiple strikes at an extremely fast pace towards the woman's stomach before striking her with a strong roundhouse kick to the jaw, thus defeating that guard. The final guard for now was a bit stronger than the last three. His sword slashes were faster and stronger, and he dodged some of Phi's kicks and punches.

The young martial artist finished their short battle by placing one palm to the ground and doing an upside-down rotating straddle split which was similar to a tornado, and delivered several kicks to the guard before leaping off the ground using her palms and kicking the guard in the face, defeating him. Now, all that was left were the Golems, but she had to hurry, since more guards could be coming any second.

"Coil!" cried Phi, increasing her attack power and defense temporarily. Afterwards, she charged towards one of the Golems and kicked it as hard as she could, only to fall down and tend to her ankle immediantly. The Golem's armor was as hard as she thought!

She dodged another Golem's fists by flipping backwards, while being surrounded by four Golems. She was growing more fatigued as she kept dodging the Golems' attacks. None of her kicks, punches, sword skills, or physical and artes would work, and she didn't have time to cast a simple arte as well, so it was proving to be difficult for her.

Suddenly, she had an idea. She dodged yet another Golem's attack and climbed up its arm until she reached the shoulder. The Golem near the Golem she was currently standing on top of tried to punch her, but missed and punched the Golem instead, sending the Golem on the ground. She decided to try this strategy against the two other Golems and climbed on top of the Golem's head as fast as she could.

Like before, the Golem next to the Golem she was on top of was stupid enough to punch its comrade's head as Phi jumped towards the shoulder. _'If this keeps up, then the Golems will be defeated!' _thought Phi, determined to beat the Golems.

_THUD. _Suddenly, Phi felt pain course through her body and something sticking out of her back, Phi glanced behind her shoulder and saw an archer had fired something at her. She gazed at her back and saw an arrow had hit her before she took it out as quickly as possible. She jumped down from the Golem's shoulder, winching in pain before taking out her katana and charging towards the archer. The archer tried to get another arrow to his bow, but Phi quickly stabbed him before he could do so.

However, that costed Phi to lose all breath in an instant as she kneeled down, panting for breath. It wasn't just the injury that was making her suffer, but something else was killing her inside. _'Was the arrow poisoned?' _wondered Phi, clutching onto her bleeding shoulder. _'I shouldn't stay here any longer. I have to retreat, otherwise, my mission will be for nothing!' _

Luckily for her, the Golems are very slow, and the exit was opened. She ran as fast as she could, even thought she was tired, injured, and out of breath, she somehow managed to avoid the guards, and monsters as she escaped from the fortress, ran through Talys Highroad, and finally, into Sharilton. She had already tied her wound with some bandages, but they would last for a few hours.

This, however, took more than three hours. Once she arrived, it was almost dark, and many shops were closing. She ignored the people who were staring at her beaten figure and tried searching for Jude, Alvin, anyone. _'No, I will not die. I can't do that!' _thought Phi as she was walking very slowly in Sharilton, gasping heavily and her vision slowly fading away. She forced her eyes to be open in order to stay awake.

Finally, she spotted the familiar carriage that Alvin and the others took when they escaped from Fort Gandala near a mansion, and figured that must be where Alvin and the others were. She slowly approached the mansion, but was stopped by two green colored guards that were guarding the entrance.

"Let me through...please..." rasped Phi. The two guards looked at each other, unsure what to do. It was already dark, and she could be a spy that was pretending to be injured so that she could assassinate Lady Driselle.

"I'm sorry, are you here to speak to Lady Driselle?" one of them asked. Phi gave a slow nod. "Okay, what's your name?"

"Tell her...it's Phi..." panted Phi, her shoulder started to bleed once more, and the poison affecting her body. One of the guards rushed inside the manor while the other kept an eye on Phi.

About a few minutes later, Phi heard the doors of the mansion burst open, and saw Driselle, Jude, Alvin, and Rowen running outside. Seeing them was enough to let Phi drop to her knees in relief, now that help was on the way.

Jude and the others, thinking she was on the verge of death, ran quickly and soon approached to her side. "Phi! Phi, are you okay?!" asked Jude as he and Driselle started healing her with some healing artes.

"Damn it, why didn't you just let her in?!" Alvin shouted to one of the guards. "That way, she would get better treatment!"

"W-well-"

'Alvin, that's enough!" scolded Rowen. "This isn't the time now! Prepare for an operation, now!"

"Understood!" agreed one of the guards, rushing to get a doctor.

"Come on, let's get you inside!" cried Driselle.

"I-I'm fine," said Phi, feeling better and standing up on her own, despite still being injured. "I can walk on my own inside, so-GAH!"

Without warning, Alvin punched her in the stomach, knocking her out before taking her in his arms. "Alvin! What was that for?!" shouted Jude, standing up.

"If I didn't, she would have gotten herself more injured," said Alvin. "So, the best choice was this. Let's hurry it up."

With that said, everyone hurried back inside to treat the wounded Phi.

* * *

_Skit: Four Heroes _

"I can't believe they got Milla," sighed Jude, worried.

"Are you so surprised? These are the same thugs who snared the Four Great Spirits," reminded Alvin.

"And I let the same thing happen again."

Rowen encouraged, "Let's get moving, gentlemen-"

"And lady," reminded Phi.

"Right. Let's get moving gentlemen, AND lady. We can't afford to suffer anymore losses!"

"Aren't you listening? These guys are way out of our league!" said Alvin.

"Don't be ridiculous! They've haven't a chance! Especially against a warrior of your considerable talent!" said Rowen.

"Hmm? Didn't take you to be the type for the sort that props up comrades with sweet talk," admitted Alvin, surprised.

"That depends on the comrade. Does it seem to be working?"

"A nice effort, but I only fall for flattery when it comes from the lips of a lady," said Alvin, amused.

"Then, would you like me to flatter you?" asked Phi. "I am a lady, after all."

"Hmm...sure why not? You might become a nice fine lady one day, so I might as well-"

"Then I will flatter you as long as you want after we rescue these friends of yours," said Phi.

"What! Why not?"

"Isn't it the gentlemen's job to wait patiently for the lady? If so, please be quiet. If you're lucky, you may even hear flattery from your female friends."

While Phi was walking away, Jude said, "She's got a point."

'Did...did she just ignore me?" wondered Alvin, stunned.

* * *

_Skit: Kneel before me! _

"Hey, there's a hatch up the ceiling," said Jude, pointing to an open hatch in one of the rooms he and his group were in. The room was rather large, and the ceiling was far too high for them to reach.

"Why does a room like this have a hatch in the ceiling?" wondered Alvin.

"Perhaps it'll lead us to Lady Driselle and the others! Let's hurry!" said Rowen.

"Whoa, hold on there, gramps! The hatch is obviously too high for us to reach!" reminded Alvin. "I'd say that's about six feet, or more. We need to have someone light on my shoulders, since I'm the tallest person here. Since Phi is the lightest person, and the smallest, climb up my shoulders."

"Your...shoulders?" asked Phi.

"Yeah, that's right. Why, something wrong?"

"..." Phi just kept staring at Alvin, a suspicious look on her face.

"What's with that look?" asked Alvin, being cheeky. "What do you think I'm gonna do?"

"..." Still, Phi didn't say anything.

"Oh, come on! I'm just trying to be rational here. Not like I'm hoping to get my face sandwiched between a girl's thighs or-"

"I knew it! You sick bastard!" shouted Phi, frustarated.

"Hey, I was just kidding!" said Alvin, holding up his hands. Phi didn't seem to buy that, since she was still glaring angrily at Alvin.

"H-hey, let's all calm down now," assured Jude.

"Look, we're just trying to find out what's in that hatch. You got any bright ideas that don't involve your thighs?" asked Alvin.

"Fine. On your knees," ordered Phi.

"What?"

"You're a little tall for me to just jump up on your shoulders. And I'm certainly not going to give you the satisfaction of making me climb. So kneel."

"Um...okay?" Alvin kneeled down, wondering what Phi was going to do. "What now?"

"Heh, thanks. A little step-up is just what I needed."

"Wait, what?!" Before Alvin could turn his head, he felt Phi's light weight on top of him, and felt her use him as a launching pod. Jude and Rowen saw Phi launched into the air and climb up the hatch.

"What?! Can...can she fly?!" exclaimed Jude.

"No, that was simply acrobatics, I suppose. She must be skilled to have such a gift like that," praised Rowen.

After a while, Phi jumped down without warning, surprising the three boys. "There's nothing up there. It's completely dark, and I think it's under construction."

"Right, let's just get moving," said Jude.

* * *

_Skit: Twins? _

"Hey, Phi! Come to think of it, you and Jude look alike," said Alvin.

"Oh? I was wondering when you might bring that up," admitted Phi.

"How are we alike?" asked Jude.

"You know! You two have the same hair color, the same eye color, and you two do martial arts together!" said Alvin, slugging an arm around their shoulders. "I'd say that Phi is your long lost twin!"

"W-what?! No way! This is just a mere coincidence!" sputtered Jude.

"Agreed! We are in no way blood-related, and we will never be! Now just drop the subject!" shouted Phi angrily, pushing Alvin's arm away from her shoulders before stomping off.

"Man, what did I say to make her mad?" wondered Alvin.

* * *

**I wasn't really expecting to write the chapter this long, so yeah. Anyways, please read and review and give me some ideas!**


	4. Confrontation!

**Alright, this chapter is where, Milla tries to get her feet back together, literally. I know that my OC, Phi, seems a bit like a Mary-Sue, but my other OCs are as strong as her. Maybe some of them are stronger than her. Anyways, I'll try not to let Phi be a Mary-Sue. So, here's the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Tales of Xillia, only the OCs! **

* * *

"Ugh..." The pain of a headache forced Phi to wake up. As she sat up, she looked around and saw she was in a room and she was sitting in a bed. She remembered exactly what happened. She had gone back into the past successfully, helped out Jude and his men infiltrate Fort Gandala, saved Milla and the girls, buy time for them to escape, and gotten injured and somehow managed to make it back to Sharilton. All in one day.

Jumping off the bed, Phi checked her body. She still had some injuries and a throbbing headache, but they were nearly healed. She opened the door out of the room she was sleeping in and looked around to see a staircase leading down. As she was walking down, she heard some talking and listened as she saw Jude, Driselle, Rowen, Elise, Teepo, and a man that looked like a doctor in the living room.

"The second floor window is open," Phi heard Jude say. "That means Milla's awake!"

"Yeah..." said Driselle sadly as she looked down.

Jude noticed everyone was not pleased and seemed more depressed than usual. "What's wrong?"

The doctor stood up and explained, "There's something I should tell you. Milla's condition is...well, bad. She can't feel her legs anymore, or even move them."

_'This is the part where Milla loses her legs, temporarily, and she and Jude go to Leronde to cure Milla's legs,' _thought Phi, hiding behind a pillar. _'If that's the case, then I have to go with them!' _

"It can't be..." Without warning, Jude ran off upstairs to Milla's room, and nobody stopped him.

"Poor Jude...isn't there a way to cure Milla's legs?" wondered Elize as she looked down sadly.

"I'd bet on it," spoke Phi, walking out of the pillar she was hiding behind. Everyone quickly turned and gasped when they saw Phi, completely looking healthy.

"Phi! You're awake!" cried Driselle, happily.

"Are you alright? You shouldn't be getting up after two days. You may need some rest," suggested the doctor.

"It's alright. I'm fine. Wait, I was out for two days?"

"Indeed," said Rowen. "After we found you nearby unconscious, we quickly gave you treatment instead. You kept saying, 'I can't die,' so many times during the operation. Luckily, we managed to get the poison and injuries out. What happened? How did you escape?"

"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't hard," Phi started to explain. "Inside, I was fighting off against some guards and easily won. But then there were these things called Golems. While I was fighting them, someone shot me with a poisoned arrow, so I had to retreat. Luck was on my side, because I somehow managed to escape."

"Golems...huh?" wondered Rowen, stroking his beard.

"Oh, and I heard everything, so don't worry about explaining things to me," assured Phi. "By the way, where's Alvin?"

"He's gone. He went to another job," answered Rowen. "But anyways, you should get some more rest. But first, are you hungry?"

"Well, I guess I'll have something before getting some more rest," agreed Phi.

* * *

_The next morning... _

When Phi was fully dressed and awake, she saw Jude sleeping in one of the couches in the living room. She shook him lightly and called out, "Jude, are you awake? Come on, it's time to wake up."

When Jude was still sleeping, Phi sighed before sitting down in another chair. She pondered on as she watched his sleeping figure. Though, she hated him, he was not as she expected him to be, loyal, kind, and caring.

Sure, back in her future, her father, the real Jude Mathis, was kind to her, but he never did have time for her, and neither did her mother, Milla Maxwell. But, something happened that changed her for good. In this time, Jude looks younger, and Phi didn't know why, but she was happy for both him and Milla.

That was when Phi realized that she didn't hate him. No matter how much she mustered up all that hatred, she could never hate the Jude Mathis in this time. Sure she could in her future, if Jude or Milla were still alive, but this was a different Jude and Milla. Phi felt bad for hating both of them when they haven't done anything...yet. But if that 'yet' comes, she'll be ready.

Finally, Jude stirred and opened his eyes to see the ceiling. He turned his head to see Phi, and wondered, "Phi...?"

"Oh good, you're awake," said Phi, walking over to him. "Here, grab my hand. I'll help you get up."

Once Jude grabbed her hand, she helped sit him up. "When did you wake up?"

"Yesterday. I heard what happened to Milla." Jude looked away in shame, for he remembered what happened to Milla, and how she can't even feel or move her legs.

"I wish there was something I can do! I...this is all my fault," said Jude, looking down.

"...You say this is your fault?" questioned Phi. "Alright, let me ask you a few questions, and I want you to answer them honestly. Jude, did you put the hex shackles on Milla's feet?"

'Well, no."

"Did you force her to enter a hex zone?"

"No."

"Did you kidnap her?"

"No."

"Two more questions. Did you cause something to make her lose the ability to walk?"

"Well, no."

"Finally, after answering all of these questions, do you honestly think all of this is your fault?"

"Well, when you put it in that way, I guess not."

"Exactly," said Phi, bending down to Jude's level. "Look, nobody's blaming you for anything. I hate those who blame others for things they didn't do. I'm one of the victims. I understand how you feel. But...I may know something that can cure Milla's legs."

"Really?! Please, tell me!" cried Jude, taking a hold of Phi's shoulders.

_'Okay, I have to say my words carefully,' _thought Phi. "Jude, calm down. A long time ago, I heard rumors of a doctor in Leronde that had cured a person's unmoved legs before."

"Oh! Why didn't I think it through?! Of course it's him!" shouted Jude, happily. "Thank you, Phi! Thank you!" He got up and ran upstairs, most likely to Milla's room. Phi followed quietly, and saw Jude close the door to Milla's room, so she leaned against the door and listened carefully.

"Is there something on your mind?" Phi heard Milla ask.

"It's just that...a long time ago, my father healed a patient who had lost the use of his legs," said Jude.

Milla must have been surprised. "Really?!"

"Yes, really. So I was thinking, maybe we could visit my hometown, Leronde."

"...What changed? You were so determined to hold me back yesterday."

"I was...I don't know why. I'm not sure what changed," admitted Jude.

"Heh, if you say so."

"I just know there's nothing I can do to stop you. Even if you can't walk, you'll just crawl away and get into trouble."

Milla chuckled. "You really are..."

"A do-gooder? Yeah, yeah," Jude also chuckled.

"Thank you. I'm in your hands."

"Right. We can reach Leronde by boat, so let's head to Sapstrath Seahaven."

Phi decided now would be a good time to intrude, so she knocked on the door before entering. "Good morning, Milla. I'm sorry I eavesdropped on both of you, but then again, I wouldn't want to ruin this perfect moment."

"W-what do you mean?" asked Jude, his face red.

Phi ignored that affection and said, "Anyways, if you're going to Sapstrath Seahaven, I'll be joining you two."

"Why? I appreciate the offer, but why?" asked Milla.

"Yeah. You already rescued Milla and the others, plus your friend, so why do you want to come with us? You have a family, right?" Jude also asked.

"Unfortunely, back before I escaped Fort Gandala, my friend was already dead due to the hex shackles I presume. And I'm an orphan," explained Phi. She thought about this long and hard last night about the excuse she was going to say to travel with Jude and the others. She lied about the friend part, but the part where she's an orphan wasn't a lie. "Besides, I want to make Nachtigal pay for hurting not only my friend, by all of those innocent people as well."

"Oh, I see...I'm so sorry," apologized Jude.

"No need to apologize. That wasn't your fault. Well, I'll be leaving the room. Call me once you're ready."

Once Phi left, Jude admitted, "For some strange reason, something's bugging me. Something in my guts are telling me, 'Protect her.'"

"Then, maybe you should," suggested Milla. "Now, will you please help me up?"

"Oh, sure!"

Later, Jude, Milla, and Phi were ready to say goodbye to the others except for Alvin, who was missing. Milla was riding on a horse Driselle gave to her for easier transportation. "Driselle, you have my gratitude," said Milla.

"And you have my hopes for a full recovery," said Driselle.

"Please, take the utmost caution on your journey," warned Rowen. "I'm truly sorry we cannot accompany you."

Milla shook her head. "No need to apologize. You have much to keep you occupied here. Driselle's life is about to get very busy. She'll need your guidance."

"You're really leaving?" asked Elize, a bit sad.

"Yeah. Take care, okay?" comforted Jude. "You don't have to worry about being lonely anymore. Driselle and Rowen will keep you company."

"I know, but still..."

"Elize, if it makes you feel better, we can come visit you when Milla's legs are all cured," offered Phi.

"Really? Okay, we'll be waiting then!"

Phi turned and saw Jude looking sad. Phi figured that Jude was looking for Alvin, but he couldn't find him anywhere. "We should get moving. Everyone, you've been a great help. I am in your debt," thanked Milla.

"Time to hit the road. Thanks, all of you," said Jude before he, Milla, and Phi left the city.

While traveling to Sapstrath Seahaven, there were monsters in their way, but Jude and Phi easily took care of them while protecting Milla and the horse she was currently riding on. With Jude alone, it would have been difficult, but with Phi, it was simple. Too bad she went a bit too far and bashed the monster's brains in, saying it was something she always did to make sure the enemy was dead.

That night, the sky was cloudy, and thunder could be heard. It looks like it was going to rain. "It's about to pour down on us. Better call it a day," suggested Jude. When the trio found a safe spot under the trees to sleep for the night, Jude made a fireplace and Phi helped cooked dinner together.

"How did you become such an amazing cook?" asked Milla to Jude once dinner was done. "I can't even boil water without burning it."

"That's not true! Anyone can cook with practice!" encouraged Jude.

"Everyone has their own missions," reminded Milla.

"So my mission is to cook for Milla Maxwell?"

"Well, in my current state, I can't even do that. I can't cook dinner, or make the bed," explained Milla, looking down at her bandaged legs.

"Don't...don't worry. I'll do that stuff for you from now on," declared Jude, blushing.

Milla chuckled lightly. "Hey. Sit closer." Once Jude nervously did what she asked, Milla continued, "I want to thank you. Please, take this as a token of my appreciation." Milla got out a small necklace with a blue bead from her pocket and tied it around Jude's neck.

"Thanks." Phi could see Jude blushing, but made no comment about it.

* * *

The next morning...

The trio were still on their way towards Sapstrath Seahaven, when all of a suddenly, a boar came out of nowhere and crashed into the three of them, making Milla fall off the horse and for the horse to run away in fear.

Jude faced the boar in an offensive position. "Phi! Please, protect Milla!"

"On it!" agreed Phi, taking out her katana and defending Milla's defenceless body as she watched Jude fight the boar.

"Steel!" cried Jude, surrounded in a red aura for a second before facing the boar. He gave the boar a good kicks and punches before knocking it in the air with a Demon Fist. Once knowing the boar was gone, he ran back to Milla. "Milla, are you okay?"

"Sure, I'm fine," said Milla. "What now?"

With a determined look on his face, Jude bent down and picked up Milla, who was now on his back. "Hold tight," ordered Jude firmly as he began to walk. Phi understood her role to protect the both of them and ran forward. During their trip, Phi would usually be the one to kill the monsters, while Jude is defending Milla, and in no time, they arrived in Sapstrath Seahaven.

Jude placed Milla on one of the benches and told her, "Lemme go check up on the ship's schedule. I'll be right back."

Milla fished out what seems to be a strange object. Before Phi could question her about it, she heard, "Lady Milla! I finally caught up with you!"

Phi and Milla turned to see a young man with silver hair tied in a ponytail jumped down in front of Milla. "Ivar, what are you doing here?"

_'THAT'S Ivar? Evan's dad? Somehow, I feel sorry for him already,' _thought Phi, staring at Ivar. Ivar did look a little like Evan, well, because Evan is his son in the future, but Phi never met Ivar. Evan always said his dad was annoying in a way.

"When I saw your face on the wanted posters, I knew I just had to find you right away," said Ivar.

"Who's he?" asked Phi, pretending know not know Ivar.

"He's my handmaid, Ivar," explained Milla before turning back to Ivar. "But what about your duty to protect Nia Khera?"

"I begged the villagers to let me come to you. They were very understanding."

"You imbecile! That's not the point! Don't you realize-ergh!" As Milla stood up indigantly, she crashed down, forgetting about her unmoved legs until now.

"Lady Milla! Are you okay?" asked Ivar.

"Milla! Don't just stand! Remember your condition about your legs!" shouted Phi, bending down to help.

Ivar turned to where Milla's legs were and saw they were bandaged. "Your...your legs..." gasped Ivar. Quickly, he and Phi helped Milla sit on the benches. Then, Ivar turned to Phi and shouted, "How dare you hurt Lady Milla like that!"

"What?! I just met you, literally! How dare YOU accuse me of something that's not anyone's fault!" shouted back Phi.

"Both of you, stop!" cried Milla, trying to break up the argument.

"Oh yeah? How do you explain Lady Milla's legs? They're all bandaged! What happened?!"

"It was a simple accident! No one was at fault! So, calm down and listen!"

"Milla!" called Jude, rushing to the scene once he heard Ivar and Phi's arguing.

Ivar saw and recognized Jude. "Ah, I see! So, you were the one who did it! Tell me what you did to Lady Milla!"

"Stand down, Ivar. This wasn't Jude's or Phi's fault," ordered Milla calmly. "I brought this upon myself."

"But you wouldn't be in this predicament if I was at your side," said Ivar before turning to Jude. "Listen here, pipsqueak! Handmaids are made, not appointed! One must dedicate his life to serving and protecting Lady Milla! It is an esteemed position for real men! Manly men! She may have commanded it, but clearly it was a mistake to let an uncouch, unreliable, underhanded stranger like you to serve her holy person!"

"Hey, Jude is nothing like that, unlike you!" shouted Phi. "In case you haven't noticed, HE was the one who brought her safely here! HE was the one who helped rescued her! And HE has been supporting her all this time after she lost the ability! And what have you've been doing? Scouring around the whole land just to find your precious 'Lady Milla' when you should be protecting the people of, what was it, oh yeah, Nia Khera! So tell me, o wise guy, what is more important? Milla, or the people?"

"Well, it's both! But-"

"Answer. The. Damn. Question," ordered Phi through gritted teeth.

"Lady Milla! But why does it matter to you, an outsider who's never met Lady Milla? You should just scurry back to your family to wherever you came from!"

That, Ivar, was a bad move.

"Shut up! Just back off, you senile old fart!" yelled Phi angrily. _'Now I know why Evan thinks he's annoying! I sure hope he changes, otherwise, I'm ripping his damn head off with my own bare teeth!' _thought Phi.

"A-a senile old fart?!" shouted Ivar, shocked. Not once, has anyone called him that!

"H-hey, just let's all calm down," suggested Jude.

"Shut up!" shouted Ivar.

"Jude, please be quiet!" ordered Phi before turning back to Ivar. "So, yeah. I did call you a senile old fart. What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't have to listen to this!" said Ivar before turning to Milla. "Now, come with me, Lady Milla."

"Wait! My father may be able to cure her legs!" said Jude.

"If what you say is true..." Ivar unsheathed his twin shortswords and pointed one at Jude. "I will be the one to take her to see him."

"Hey! Knock it off! There are civilians here!" reminded Phi.

"I've had you pegged as a phony from the moment I laid eyes on you!" continued Ivar, ignoring Phi. "Now, know your place and begone!"

'You can accompany her if you like, but I'm coming, too," said Jude.

"Ivar! Stop this nonsense!" ordered Milla.

"Please, Lady Milla, stay where you are," said Ivar, facing Jude. "You will thank me for this later."

In just a second, the fight started. Ivar slashed with great speed using his twin shortswords, but Jude was much faster as he easily dodged all of the slashes, not even getting a scratch. Phi unsheathed her katana and was trying to figure out the right time to stop the fight.

"How dare you do that to Lady Milla!" shouted Ivar as he kept slashing at Jude.

"I-"

"Shut up! I don't need to hear your excuses!"

"I tried-"

"I said, shut up! It's time you need to pay for your sins, you bastard!"

_'Come on...come on...' _thought Phi as she examined the fight and waited for an opening. When she saw Jude taking a few steps back and Ivar charging at him with both his shortswords at the same time, Phi jumped. Sparks flew from the sole of her shoe, and the air whistled by as her shoulder cut through it.

The space between Jude and Ivar narrowed quickly, but Phi's perception was much quicker, and it felt like time had slowed down. There was an expression of surprise on Ivar's face when Phi now stood in front of Jude, sword at ready.

Phi's katana was a little bit quicker and stronger, and the weapons collided as soon as they made contact. Phi kept her defense up the most, which caused Ivar to fly back on his back and out of breath.

"Cheater! The phony had help from a litttle girl!" accused Ivar.

"Call me whatever you want. I just want to help Milla!" said Jude.

Ivar, once he caught his breath, stood up. "How many times do I have to tell you? That's my job!"

"And how many times do I have to tell you? That may be your job, but you have to protect the people of Nia Khera first, you senile old fart!" reminded Phi.

"Don't tell me what to do! And stop calling me that!" shouted Ivar. Then, he, Jude, and Phi noticed Milla crawling away.

"I don't have time for this," said Milla. "You three can duke it out as much as you want. I'm leaving." Quickly, the three of them rushed towards Milla, forgetting their battle, and helped her to the bench.

Once they were done, Ivar kept glaring angrily at Jude. "If you still aren't satisfied, I'll fight you later," said Jude. "Right now, we need to get moving."

"Ivar, there is something important I have to give to you," said Milla, holding the weird device from before. "It's crucial that no one gets their hands on it. Consider this precious as my life. The lives of the Four are coutning on it."

"And you're entrusting it to me? I shall defend it to my last breath, Lady Milla!" swore Ivar, retrieving the device.

"I know I could count on my handmaid. Now, return to Nia Khera."

Ivar was surprised. "What?!"

"Your duty is to protect Nia Khera."

"But Lady Milla! My place is with you!"

_'If he complains anymore, I think I'm going to lose my cool,' _thought Phi.

"Don't make me repeat myself," warned Milla.

Ivar turned to Jude and ordered, "Hurry up and take her. But don't forget who's th real handmaid, here! This guy!"

"Um...sure thing," agreed Jude awkwardly. "And I promise I won't rest until Milla walks again."

"You got that right!" said Ivar as both Milla and Phi shook her heads, annoyed.

* * *

Skit: Parental Relationships

"I'm eagered to see what your hometown's like," said Milla as she, Jude, and Phi were traveling to Leronde.

"It's just a normal little boondocks town," said Jude. "It did used to be a famous mining colony, though."

"Since you're human, you must have parents," said Milla. "Are they a lot like you? Aren't you looking forward to seeing them?"

"My parents tend to prioritize work. We don't always get along."

"I've read about child-parent relationships," admitted Milla, interested. "There's something called, 'An Oedipus complex.'"

"Now I know that's definitely not it!" said Jude, surprised.

"Ah. So yours is more of the scheming, back-stabbing sort of family?"

"Just what kind of books have you been reading?!"

"What about you, Phi? What sort of family do you have?"

"...I'm sorry, but I don't like talking about my family," apologized Phi.

"Oh, I see. Sorry then," said Jude.

"No need to apologize."

"Ah, so Phi's family is more on the abusive side?" wondered Milla.

"I didn't even say anything about that!"

* * *

Skit: Similar traits

"Hmm..." pondered on Milla. "Jude, have you noticed that some of Phi's techniques are similar to yours?"

"Huh? Come to think of it, yeah," agreed Jude.

"I just copied them from a scroll," replied Phi. "Then, I trained the movements until I completely mastered them."

" I see. But why do the two of you looks similar?" asked Milla.

"It's just a mere coincidence," said Phi.

"I see. How strange. Humans can take almost the exact appearances? I wonder..."

"You talk as if you're not human yourself," said Phi, pretending not to know Milla's a spirit.

"Yeah, you can say that," said Jude.

* * *

Skit: A bad choice

"By the way, Milla, what was that device you handed to Ivar?" asked Phi.

"Milla, should we tell her?" whispered Jude.

"Yes, I think she deserves to know," agreed Milla. "Very well. You see, that device was the key to activating the Lance of Kresnik, a very large spyrix that absorbs mana into a powerful weapon that can kill, like a cannon. I know the Four Great Spirits were captured in them, and many people have gone missing because their mana lobes were being used as mana power-ups to increase and fill up the Lance of Kresnik."

"So, you're saying that the people of Sharilton-"

"Yes, they may have been used to enhance the Lance of Kresnik. I am deeply sorry for the loss of those who were forced to sacrifice themselves."

"It's okay, don't worry. This just gives me more reason to teach Nachtigal a lesson," said Phi. "What, that device, you gave it to Ivar, right Milla?"

"Yes, why?"

"That was a bad decision, Milla. What if he screws this up? For all we know, he could lose it! Why didn't you guys destroy the key?"

"..."

"..." Both Jude and Milla didn't even think of that.

"Oh no, don't tell me that seriously didn't cross your minds! Ugh, never mind! The second I see that key, I'm destroying it!"

* * *

Skit: Senile old fart

"Are you okay, Phi? You kinda yelled at Ivar too much back there," said Jude.

"I'm fine. It's just that he makes me mad. Why did that senile old fart have to blame you for what's happened to Milla's legs? It wasn't even your fault! That's why I dislike people who blame others for things they didn't do."

"Senile old fart? Where did you get that?" asked Milla.

"Because of his white hair. And I don't care if it's actually silver. I'll keep calling him that until he apologizes."

_'I doubt he's going to apologize that soon,' _thought Jude, already feeling sorry for Ivar.

* * *

**Whew! I'm finished with this chapter! I'm sorry if this wasn't a good fight chapter, but please read and review!**


	5. The mines

**Yeah, this'll be the last chapter before I go to school soon. I don't know when I'll be able to update again, but I will.**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Tales of Xillia, only the OCs. **

* * *

Soon, Jude, Milla, and Phi arrived at a seaport that would lead to Leronde. Phi was taking the lead while Jude was carrying Milla. Just then, they heard the sounds of something rolling and fast footsteps.

"Faster! Faster! Let's burn rubber! Go! Go!" cheered a female voice. The trio turned and saw a young teenager with short brown hair in a wheelchair with a young boy pushing the wheelchair and running as fast as he could along with a girl running besides him.

As they were running, the girl saw three people, specifically Jude, Milla, and Phi in their way and called, "Ah! Roadblock! Stop!"

"Ah, you're right! Slower! Go slower!" ordered the teenager. **SWOOSH! **The boy pushing the wheelchair tried to screech to a stop, but he accidentally let go of the wheelchair, making the teenager on the wheelchair scream as she and the wheechair crashed into the water.

"Um...what just happened?" wondered Phi. _'Is it just me, or was that Recon's mother, Leia?' _she thought.

Jude had a smug smile on his face. "That's Leia, alright. Still the same as ever."

"Yeah...I'm going to go help her now." With that said, Phi took off her shoes and socks before diving right in the water and swimming towards Leia, who was floating on the water. Phi grabbed ahold of Leia's arm and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks," thanked Leia as she and Phi swam back. After arriving back to shore, Leia was gasping for breath as she and Phi were trying to dry themselves. "Sorry for the close call. Are you okay?"

When Leia looked up, she saw her familiar childhood friend, Jude. "Hi, Leia. I'm home now," said Jude.

"What the-Jude?! Hey, Jude! What are you doing here?"

"I'm home. What are you doing here?"

Leia started frantically explaining while waving her arms, "W-well, I was just-um,These kids wanted to have a race, you see? And well, um...And this little guy is a real speed demon, so I had him push me in the wheelchair to keep fair."

Jude chuckled. "And lemme guess. You just had to be the winner, huh?"

"Oh yeah, never mind that. So, who are your new friends?"

"I suppose that you know this girl?" asked Milla.

"Uh, yeah. She's an old friend of mine," said Jude before turning to Leia. "This is my friend, Milla. And she's Phi."

"Hello Milla and Phi," welcomed Leia. Then, she saw the bandaged legs of Milla and gasped. "Huh? What happened to her legs?" She turned to the kids that accompanied her and ordered, "Run and get the doctor! This woman needs help!"

"Right! Roger!" cried the two kids before running off.

Leia grabbed the wheelchair and turned to Jude and Milla. "Are you heading home? Here, I'll come with you. Here, use this."

Once arriving at the doctor's office, or more like Jude's house, they saw a few patients in the waiting room. Once they saw Jude, they came up to him and asked questions of what Fenmont was like, or stuff like that. Then, a woman who looked a lot like Jude entered the waiting room and saw Milla's injured legs.

"I'm sorry, everyone. We have an urgent case here," apologized the woman. "You'll have to come back in the afternoon."

The patients nodded before leaving the waiting room. "Sorry, everyone! We'll catch you later! Promise!" called Leia.

One of the patients, an old man, laughed. "You've really gotten the swing of things here, haven't you, Leia?"

"Best nurse in town! Actually, the only nurse in town, but hey, you know how it is."

"Bring her in," said the woman.

"Thank you," said Milla, grateful for the kind woman.

After Jude, Leia, and Phi were in the waiting room, they waited for the results for Milla's legs. Phi thought, _'From what I remembered, the Jude in my future told me that the only way to cure Milla's legs was due to a device called an aspyrixis. He told me that his dad, or rather, my grandpa, still has it, even in the future, but you need to implant a spirit fossil in that device before you use it in the patient's legs. The spirit fossil is at the Felgana Mines, which is somewhere in Voltea Woods. Alright, I better head out and seek the spirit fossil. If Jude and the others ask, I'll just say I went exploring, and found one to keep as a keepsake.' _

"I'm sorry, Jude. This is as far as I can take you," said Phi, standing up. "I have to continue on my own journey. I'm sorry I can't see Milla's recover, but I pray that your father will heal her legs."

"Wait, you're leaving?" asked Jude.

"Unfortunely. Everyone has their own mission, just like Milla says. I'm sorry, but I hope we can meet again," apologized Phi, bowing her head in respect.

"You don't have to bow your head," said Jude, petting her in the head. "I understand. So, this is it then, huh? Thank you for your help."

"I'm glad you understand," said Phi before exiting the doctor's office. _'Now, to the Voltea Woods, and then to Felgana Mines!' _

* * *

_About an hour later... _

"Wind Blade!" cried Phi, channeling some wind spirits and sending them towards a large group of monsters. Many green blades of wind spread out in a fan shape and attacked many monsters, ripping them apart. The other monsters were injured, but not killed.

The remaining monsters issued a distorted howl as they confronted the little girl. Phi ran around their attacks, dodging all of them with great concentration, as she moved like a leaf at the mercy of the wind, and came behind them.

She quickly unsheathed her katana and slashed through some of them before leaping off the ground and somersaulting in the air and then landing on the air far away from the remaining monsters. "Void Sword!" Phi slashes with her katana several times in all directions, sending many sword slashes with such speed towards the remaining monsters, slicing all of their body parts and defeating them before sheathing her weapon.

Phi had spent a good hour trying to locate the mines in Voltea Woods, only to get lost and wander into a group of monsters. After opening her map for who knows how many times, and ran alone in the silent forest as she followed the map's instructions.

About nearly another hour had gone, she saw the mine's entrance up ahead, and was relieved that she had found it. Phi remembered that when Jude, Leia, and Milla entered the Felgana Mines, there was a monster that had a really huge spirit fossil in its forehead, enhancing its abilities.

This was the plan. Search through the mines. Find the monster, and kill it. Also, come out alive and run back to Leronde as fast as she could. Just doing that will save Jude and the others the trouble of searching for a spirit fossil.

Once inside, it was dark, except for a few plants that were glowing and illuminating the areas inside the mine. That were some fallen carts, rocks, a few hatchets, and other mining tools. That was to be expected for an abandoned mine.

_'Well, time to get digging,' _thought Phi. She picked up a pickaxe and started searching for any huge rocks in the areas. Then, she found a very large rock, and thought she saw something sparkle at the ground near it. Lifting the pickaxe above her head, she brought it down as hard as she could.

With some sounds of rock crumbling, Phi guessed that she cracked some of the huge rock and continued her barrage of attacks as hard and quickly as she could. Soon, the whole, huge rock collapsed into a big heap of small rocks, and there was several blue glowing stones in the ground from where the rock was once located.

Phi bent down and picked up one of the blue glowing stones, examining it carefully before throwing it away and standing up. _'It's a spirit fossil, but it's too tiny. I need to investigate deeper,' _she thought before entering the hole where the rock used to be only to use more of the mine.

Not only that, but she found bat-like monsters inside as well, but she easily fought them off, though most were very persistent. Finally, after exploring very deep in the mines for a very long time, she found spirit fossil fragments on the ground, and soon, was following a path that had a small trail of spirit fossils every now and then.

_'This ringing sound...it's getting louder and louder,' _thought Phi. _'I heard that spirit fossils give off a ringing sound, so I must be close!' _

Finally, Phi arrived in a really large room in all of the mining areas, which had lots of small and big spirit fossils up in the ceilings. Phi was amazed by the amount of spirit fossils here, but knew she had no time for that. As she wondered how to get the spirit fossils from up there while digging them up, she heard some rumblings and felt like something was about to pop out from the ground. Trusting her instincts like always, Phi jumped back as far away as she could.

**BOOM! **As expected, something did come out of the ground. It was a huge centipede-like monster with hard, rocky skin with sharp teeth, tiny, slender arms, and it looked like there was a huge spirit fossil on the top of its forehead.

"This is the one!" said Phi, getting ready to fight. She ran towards it, jumped up into the air, and kicked its skin multiple times before falling back, clutching both her now hurt legs. Its skin really was tough like the Golems she once fought, but no matter. She will find its weakness somehow.

The monster dug underground as Phi tried to attack it with all of her might. Phi, sensing something was wrong, twirled into the air, and saw the monster reappear while rotating like a drill before it dug underground again. Phi jumped to the ground, and leaped into the air again, seeing the monster do the same thing.

Phi let down her guard once she landed back on the ground, and she was sent flying in the air. However, she took that opportunity to unsheath her katana, stab the ceiling, and hang on. Luckily, the monster couldn't reach her there as it tried to.

Holding the hilt of her katana in one hand, and the other aiming for the monster, Phi began chanting an incantation for a spirit arte. "Waves come forth! Splash!" A series of water streams fell on the monster, splashing it in all directions and making it screech in pain.

Phi didn't want to ruin the spirit fossil, so while the monster was distracted, she pulled her katana out of the ceiling and fell down on top of the monster's forehead before trying to crack the spirit fossil open.

As if knowing Phi's true intent, the monster tried to dig underground again. Seeing that the monster was doing its part, Phi jumped off the forehead and into the ground, sheathing her weapon and going to use hand-to-hand combat.

Phi climbed up the wall using her own two feet, and just in time as the monster rose again to the surface. Phi kicked off the ceiling and arrived on its back. "Talon Storm!" Mustering up the strength, Phi striked using her own two palms several times.

The monster disappeared into the ground again, annoying Phi. Just how long is that monster going to be a coward and attack from underground?! Phi steadied herself, calmed down, and listened very carefully for the monster. With a single flick of her ears, she somersaulted out of the way, and the monster sprang up from the spot where Phi had once been.

Running towards the monster and not giving it a chance to escape, Phi crouched down and got ready to jump. "Dragon Shot!" With a simple leap, Phi performed an uppercut that possibly cracked the monster's jaw a bit before performing more attacks to the stomach. "Swallow Dance!" With each kick Phi delivered, she became higher, and higher, until she delivered a powerful kick to the spirit fossil.

Then, the monster dove underground yet again, but this time, it appeared much faster than Phi expected, and she was sent flying and hit the ceiling. When Phi turned as she was falling, she saw the monster's jaws open to devour her. However, she wasn't going to let that monster eat her.

Summoning up as much mana and channeling spirits as she could, Phi cried out, "Flames come forth! Fireball!" A very large fireball the size of a big rock shot from Phi's palms and entered the monster's mouth. The monster made the mistake of swallowing it before it coughed out smoke and fell down, defeated.

Phi landed next to the monster, panting for breath. "That was...some workout," she said before walking towards the large, cracked spirit fossil the monster had on its forehead.

Just then, Jude, Leia, and Milla in a wheelchair entered the room and saw Phi walking towards a defeated, huge monster with a glowing blue spirit fossil on its forehead. "Phi?!" cried Jude, surprised to see her here.

Phi was also surprised to see them here. "Jude?! Everyone?! What are you doing here?! Especially Milla! Can't you see she's injured?!"

"I know that! We just came here for a spirit fossil," explained Jude.

"Whoa! Did you defeat that monster?" asked Leia, amazed.

"Yes, I just defeated it right now," said Phi, walking towards the monster and trying to crack the spirit fossil.

"So that's what all those noises were," muttered Milla. Phi managed to get a hunk of the spirit fossil and handed it to Jude.

"Here, this is what you needed, right?' asked Phi.

"Yeah, thanks. But what are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to explore the mines. That's all. So, what are you doing here anyways?"

Suddenly, the monster rose its head and roared in anger. It swung its head at Jude, Leia, and Phi, and the three went crashing to the air. "Jude! Leia! Phi!" cried Milla. She saw the spirit fossil Jude had was near the ground next to her, so she fell off the wheelchair and crawled towards it. As the monster was about to attack her friends, Milla attached the spirit fossil to the device in her right thigh, whcih happened to be the aspyrixis. Instantly, pain shot from her legs through her whole body as she tried to endure it.

Finally, Milla stood up while in pain, muttering, "You're going to pay for that...Get away from them, you beast!" Once on her feet, she started charging towards the monster, letting out a battle cry as Jude, Leia, and Phi stood up and also faced the monster.

Phi unsheathed her sword, and together, Milla and Phi attacked the monster's back at the same time, while Jude and Leia attacked from the front. The monster shook its body to throw the four off guard and dug underground. Phi sensed the monster was going to head straight for Leia due to her instincts.

"Leia, jump back, now!" ordered Phi. Immediantly, Leia did what she was told, and the monster reappeared right in the spot where Leia was.

Milla jumped into the air and readied her blade. "Shimmer Spin!" Spinning around, Milla attacked several times at the monster's neck while in airborne.

"Energize...First Aid!" cried Leia, far in the distance. Phi felt her wounds close up in the warm, smoothing light before jumping and landing on top of the monster. Very quickly, Phi stomped many times on top of the monster, making the monster act as if it had a heache.

Milla and Jude stood side by side in front of the monster and prepared themselves. "Final Gale!" Milla slashed with her sword and Jude punched the air, both forming an X-shaped blade of wind that left a scar on the monster.

Phi leaped off the monster as if dove underground again. It reappeared behind Leia and fired some sort of dust-like breath at her, knocking her back. "Leia!" cried Jude, rushing to her side.

"Milla! I need time! Distract that monster!" ordered Phi, channeling some water spirits as fast as she could. Milla nodded before charging past Leia and Jude and attacking the monster in various directions.

Leia and Jude got up and also started attacking the monster, slowly weakening it. Whenever it tried to dive down again, the three wouldn't let it by using artes faster. When it uses its special breath attack, the others easily dodged that, and continued their barrage of attacks, slowly trying to bring the monster down to its knees.

"Get out of the way!" yelled Phi, now ready. At her command, everyone back away and behind Phi. "O mad and greedy waters, rise up and storm the very heavens! Tidal Wave!"

A huge wave appeared in front of Phi and grew in size as it got closer to the monster, completely engulfing it in its strong waters. When the waves have vanished, the monster fell to its own hole, completely defeated.

Sighing in relief, Jude turned to Milla, who was still standing. "You were able to use the aspyrixis!"

Taking a step, Milla suddenly collapsed, but Leia caught her and helped her lay down on the ground. "Leia! Can you do healing artes? If so, do it quickly!" ordered Phi.

"Yeah!" agreed Leia before she started healing Milla's wounds.

"Goodness. This is some device you humans have come up with," gasped Milla.

"How bad's the pain?" asked Jude, kneeling down to her.

"Well, it's not worse than I imagined, but...it's considerable."

"I'm sorry. I should have checked to see if that monster was still alive," apologized Phi.

"But you retrieved the spirit fossil for me. In a way, I am in your debt," thanked Milla.

'Let's get back to town. I'll go get the wheelchair," offered Jude.

"I'll help," said Phi, following after him. Both checked to see if the wheelchair was still functional and luckily, it still was. "By the way Jude, how exactly did Milla get on her feet?"

"Well, there's this device my father used to heal a patient's legs. It's called an aspyrixis, but you need a spirit fossil in order for it to work," explained Jude. "Even with the aspyrixis, Milla won't be able to complete her mission without someone's help. And that means I know what I have to do."

"Sorry, I think I'm at my limit," groaned Milla before her body went limp.

Jude checked her pulse and sighed in relief. "Don't worry. I think she's passed out."

"Then let's hurry back to Leronde so she can have proper rest there," suggested Phi.

As soon as they propped Milla up the wheelchair, Leia said, "I don't mind pushing the wheelchair on the way back.

"Okay. Why the sudden burst of compassion?" wondered Jude.

"Why? Is there something wrong with it?"

'Well, no. Just unexpected, I suppose."

"What can I say? I'm feeling really inspired by your friend here," told Leia, looking at Milla with inspiration in her eyes before she started pushing the wheelchair out of the area.

* * *

_Later... _

When the group arrived back in Leronde, Milla started to wake up and was surprised to see they were in Leronde. "Milla! You're awake!" cried Leia, happily.

"Thank goodness," said Jude.

"Welcome back," said Phi.

Just then, the woman that looked like Jude, which Phi guessed was Jude's mother, ran up to Jude and embraced him tightly. "Jude! Are you okay? Is anything broken? You went to the mine, didn't you? Why didn't you tell us?"

"I-I'm sorry, Mom," apologized Jude.

"Come to think of it, I did go to the mine to go see a spirit fossil and once I found it, I thought I would keep it as a keepsake, so there was actually no need for you to go," told Phi.

"Jude!" called Jude's father. He ran up, and much to Phi's shock, slapped his own son.

"Honey, don't!" said Jude's mother.

"What if something had happened to the girls?! Did you think at all before charging off?!" yelled Jude's father.

Phi was surprised at this. The Jude in her future told her that his mother was always sweet and kind, and very soft with him, but his dad was very strict and serious. She knew this was family business, so she decided to butt out.

"I did whatever I could do to help. I tried, unlike you, dad," told Jude calmly, not even looking at his own father.

Jude's father looked surprised at his courage to stand up to his own father. However, that only angered him more. "Why you little-"

In a flash, Phi appeared in front of Jude, shielding him, and giving Jude's father possibly the coldest look he ever saw. "Don't. Hurt. Him.," threatned Phi, glaring at Jude's father with sharp, cold eyes. Everyone was surprised at this, and even Phi. She never intended to help Jude since this was family business, even though she herself is Jude's future daughter, but her body just moved on its own, and the words came out of her mouth.

Milla stood up and told Jude's father, "Please don't be so hard on him. He did well accomplishing his task.

"You're on your feet?" asked Jude, surprised that his patient, the one with frozen legs, could walk again.

"Thanks to these three," said Milla, refering to Jude, Leia, and Phi.

"Try not to overdo it now," said Leia, grabbing ahold of the wheelchair. "Hurry up and get back into the chair." Nodding her head, Milla slowly sat down on the wheechair.

"Darling," reminded Jude's mother.

Jude's father nodded and turned to Leia. "Leia, take her to the clinic at once."

"Yes, Doctor!" As soon as Jude's parents left, Leia told Milla, "Well, you know what, Milla? You're going to need some serious physical therapy."

"Right. Sorry to be a burden, Leia," apologized Milla.

"Hey, no worries! That's my job!"

Phi turned to Jude, and bowed her head in respect, confusing Jude. "Jude, I'm sorry for disrupting your family affairs. I don't know why, but my body and mouth moved on its own. This may sound like an excuse, but I'm merely telling the truth."

"No, it's okay," said Jude. "Anyways, we should get back to the clinic."

* * *

Skit: Lost

"Damn it! What the hell am I going to do?" cursed Phi, kicking a tree out of frustaration. She had just passed through this route three times already, and she was nowhere near the mines now. "Alright, just calm down...calm down...I need to think for a moment..."

Looking around, she finally saw another route she didn't see and ran there, only to encounter some monsters. "Oh well, at least I get to take my anger out of something," muttered Phi, taking out her katana.

* * *

Skit: Look alike

"By the way, Phi! I noticed that you and Jude look alike!" said Leia.

Phi sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I know. I've heard this a buncha times. In fact, I'm just getting used to the idea that people are calling us that."

"The only difference is that you're a lot stronger and tougher than Jude!"

"What?!" exclaimed Jude.

"Oh?" That caught Phi's interest. "If that's the case, then I guess we really are different!"

"Hey wait! Don't I get a say in this?!"

* * *

_Skit: _Something's wrong...

"Hmm..." muttered Milla, examining Phi.

"What's wrong, Milla? Is something wrong with my face?" asked Phi.

"Yeah, you've been staring at her for quite some time," said Jude.

"It's just that...I sensed something very wrong with Phi," admitted Milla. "I can sense half the strength of a Great Spirit inside of her."

_'Crap! If anyone finds out that I'm a half spirit, I'm screwed!' _thought Phi, panicking even though she kept a calm face. "Maybe that's just my own strength."

"I don't know..." said Milla. "It's probably my imagination, though."

"Yeah." _'Thank the Spirits for that!' _

* * *

**Wanna know how Leia gets on deck as a stowaway? Easy! Read and find out!**


	6. Stowaway

**Okay, I'm going to stop talking now and let you guys read!**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Tales of Xillia, only the OCs! **

* * *

Three weeks have passed, and finally, Milla was going to be discharged today. During the three weeks, Jude, Leia, and Phi helped Milla regained her footing, and Phi often sparred with Milla to help her regain her strength, which was a huge help for her. The day Milla said she was going to be discharged, Phi told the others her farewells before leaving the doctor's office, saying her job here was done, and she had her own mission to do. Everyone was a bit sad she had to leave, and understood.

Actually, Phi wasn't really going to leave, but hide in Leronde. She had to make sure Leia got onboard of the ship Jude and the others were going to she was spying on Milla, she saw Milla talking with Rowen and Elize, who had arrived in Leronde. She heard the whole conversation, and learned that Milla had told the two that she was a Spirit that was on a mission to destroy the Lance of Kresnik. Also, they were leaving tommorow, so Phi had to prepare everything. It wasn't only Leia going, but her as well.

The next morning, Phi was at the harbor, and sighed in relief when she saw that Jude and the others hasn't arrived yet. Well, it was too early in the morning, but the harbor was open. At the corner of her eye, Phi saw Leia quietly rushing towards the harbor, hiding behind one of the pillars as she looked around. Phi walked towards her and managed to sneak behind her.

"Going somewhere?" called Phi from behind. Leia jumped in surprise before turning around to see Phi.

"Phi?! What are you doing here?! I thought you were already gone!" said Leia.

"I...forgot something in Leronde that I was supposed to pick up. I dropped my bag," lied Phi. "Anyways, you planning on sneaking onboard so that you can go on a journey with Jude and the others? Don't try to lie. I can tell when people are lying."

"How did you know?" asked Leia. "Wait, never mind. Don't tell Jude and the others!"

"I won't. But what ship were you about to sneak in?"

"Obviously, Sapstrath!" said Leia, proudly.

"How noble of you. However, that ship is actually going to Lakutam Seahaven. Jude and the others will board that ship. You're lucky I was here to inform you of that, or you would have gotten to the wrong ship."

"Really? Oh man, that's a relief! But, it's going to be difficult sneaking in. I'll need a distraction to get in quietly," said Leia, thinking about how to escape into the ship Phi pointed out.

"Wait. There's another way, Leia."

"Really? What is it?"

Phi turned to Leia with a serious look on her face. "Before I can tell you, you have to promise to do _exactly _as I say. No questions asked. What's your answer?" Leia nodded, agreeing to the terms. "Good. First of all, you have to get inside an empty barrel which I'll fill in with straw and hay later. I'll act like I'm a passenger and buy a ticket, then say that the barrel is one of my supplies. Next, if you ever meet up with Jude and the others, you absolutely must not tell them about our conversation and that I helped you sneak inside the ship."

"Huh? Why?"

"Didn't I say no questions?"

"..."

"Good, That's it. We're done," finished Phi.

"That's...it?" questioned Leia, surprised by the easy terms.

"Is there a problem? I seem to recall you promised to do exactly what I told you to do," said Phi, reminding her. "Okay! We don't have much time left! Now, let's go!"

From then, Phi brought an empty barrel before obtaining a lot of straw and hay. Leia got in, and Phi placed the straw and hay inside the barrel, making it really full. Afterwards, Phi carried the barrel to the ticket booth and bought a ticket, telling the manager that the barrel was one of her belongings. Then, she placed the barrel outside, told Leia not to come out, and went inside the ship.

In an hour later, Phi felt the ship move as she hid in the crew quarters, knowing full well that Jude and the others must have made it. By the time it was the sun was setting several hours later, Phi felt the ship come to a stop and peeked out to see they had reached their destination. As soon as she saw Jude, Rowen, Elize, Milla, and surprisely, Alvin and Leia leave the ship, she snuck out as well. Phi was surprised that Leia was caught that easily, and also surprised to see Alvin, whom she didn't expect to be in the ship, but this makes everything better.

She had hoped to sneak past them in the harbor, but Jude saw her and called out, "Phi! Is that you!"

_'Well, I expected this to happen,' _thought Phi, turning around. She pretended to act surprised and said, "Jude? And...Leia? What are you all doing here? Especially you, Leia. I thought you were back in Leronde. Did you somehow convince Jude to let you come on his journey?"

By Phi's acting, Leia remembered her promise to Phi and immediantly knew Phi was acting surprised. "Yeah! I sure did!" said Leia, cheerfully. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I told you all before, I'm on a journey, of course. And I just gotten back from training," lied Phi. "It seems wherever I go, you all follow. It must be some sort of coincidence."

"Yes. Well, if we follow the Lakutum Highroad up north, we shall reach a city called Xian Du," explained Rowen.

_'Oh, there was where Aylen was born. And I have been there before, so it shouldn't be a problem,' _thought Phi.

"Hold your horses," interrupted Alvin. "What about that monster that prowls the highroad? What's it called? The Lord of Lakutam?"

"My, you are well-informed," said Rowen, impressed. "Rest assured that the Lord of Lakutam is a slave to spirit climes just like any other monsters. Now that we have shifted into Ragnome, the beast will be positively timid. I doubt it will venture anywhere near the highroad."

"See, little buddy! No need to be scared!" teased Teepo.

'Don't expect me to pluck you from the monster's jaws, spud," said Alvin, shaking his head.

"Right then. Let's hit the highroad," said Jude. "Phi, are you coming with us?"

Phi remembered that she lied about having a grudge against Nachtigal for using people for the Lance of Kresnik, and nodded. "That's right. I remember that I have to take vengance towards Nachtigal."

"Oh yes. You did mention that," said Milla, remembering.

"Um...what's all this about?" asked Alvin.

"Milla and Jude told me about the Lance of Kresnik, and how the ki-no, the insane bastard Nachtigal uses people to power up that stupid Lance of Kresnik just to obtain power. He's someone who needs to be put down," cursed Phi, getting angry. Actually, she was angry the king would do something like that, so she actually has a reason to come with the group.

"Damn, that's a lotta hate," said Alvin, impressed and surprised.

"What did you expect? He murdered thousands of people!"

"I don't know what's going on, but can we get moving?" asked Leia.

"Yes, you're right," agreed Rowen.

Getting to Xian Du was a bit difficult. Along the highroads, there was a huge canyon the group had to go through, and some monsters as well. Everyone cooperated and stopped the monsters in their way, Phi had to keep protecting Milla's back, and Leia' healing artes and staff skills were really useful.

After a while, a white dove appeared from the sky and landed on Alvin's shoulder. "Expecting a message, Alvin?" asked Jude.

"Huh?" wondered Milla, not understanding what's going on.

"I've seen him using that bird to send letters before," whispered Jude to Milla's ears. "To a woman, apparently."

'Sorry, folks. I'll be done in a jiff. Everyone, take five," called Alvin before walking to a corner and opened the letter his dove delivered to him. While the others were also taking a break, Milla, Jude, and Phi decided to talk with each other privately.

"Hey, Milla," said Jude. "You gave something to Ivar the other day. Was it the thing you swiped from the labortatory?"

"Yes. It was the spyrix used to operate the Lance of Kresnik."

"That little thing?! But shouldn't you keep it with you?"

"No, the better question is, shouldn't you have destroyed it?" asked Phi.

"No. In fact, it would be dangerous to get anywhere near the Lance of Kresnik with that syrix in hand," said Milla. "There is a problem. The channeling circle that bound and captured the Four...I believe it was generated by that spyrix. I will need to generate a channeling circle of equal power to release them."

"In other words, you need that spyrix to save the Four Great Spirits," concluded Jude.

"That's why you didn't destroy the key when you had the chance?" asked Phi.

"Yes. I may need the Four's power to destroy the OLance of Kresnik as well. The real question is when I should retrieve the key from Ivar."

"Hey, does that mean you can also use syrpix to cast artes?" questioned Jude. "It's not just for the Lance of Kresnik?"

"Hmm..." Milla thought about it. "What's the simplest way to explain this...Remember the street lamps back in Fenmont? People light them with spirit artes. It's a simple parlor trick, even a child could do it. But what happens if more powerful artes are required?"

"Those require a powerful caster, someone with a mana lobe of sufficient capacity. The greater the capacity, the more mana can be produced when artes are used," explained Jude. "That capacity is determined at birth. It's immutable."

"Precisely," agreed Milla. "That's one of the laws in Rieze Maxia. But a spyrix doesn't rely on its caster at all. A caster wielding a spyrix can power anything from a small lamp to a gigantic object like the Lance of Kresnik. Mana capacity ceases to be a limitation."

"But that sounds really handed," said Jude.

"But deadly," reminded Phi. "With a spyrix, anyone can wield potential artes strong enough to best the Four Great Spirits. And anyone can use that power to kill not only spirits, but people as well."

"By the way, Phi, are you really not a spirit?" asked Milla as the others came towards them after Alvin had finished writing a letter and sending his dove away.

"I told you before, I'm not a spirit," said Phi. This wasn't the first time Milla asked her. During those three weeks, Milla did sense potential and tremendous power inside Phi's small body, and asked her countless times if she was a spirit. Each time, Phi denied.

"But you definitely have half the strength of a Great Spirit," reminded Milla. "Only half, though. That's unusual for a human to have."

"Maybe I'm just special in a way," said Phi. "Anyways, please stop asking me that. It's getting really irritating."

"Milla, I think Phi's right," agreed Jude.

"No, Phi is definitely suspicious," said Milla, crossing her arms.

"Oh man, what's going on?" asked Alvin.

"I sense the power of a spirit inside of Phi, but I know she's human," explained Milla.

"A sturning deduction," said Phi, still calm. "I await your further insight. She has the aura of a spirit, yet she's human? Come on, please don't joke around, Milla. I'm telling you, I'm not a spirit."

"Then explain the aura you have, and your tremendous power," said Milla.

"But I really don't know," said Phi. "I know I'm full human, 100% sure! My parents are both humans. Heck, I've even seen myself bleed from wounds or papercuts or something!"

"That's not good enough."

"Alright then," said Phi. "Let's say that I'm a spirit disguised as a human. IF I am one, then where's your proof?"

"Proof?" Come to think of it, Milla didn't think of anything like that.

"You see? That's it, we're done with this conversation," sighed Phi in relief. "Now-"

"Lady Milla! There you are!"

Oh no. Jude turned around to see Ivar jump out of nowhere. Yes, that person just had to be Ivar. And Phi was still in a bad mood. Ivar was not helping. Oh joy.

"It's a miracle! You can walk again!" cried Ivar happily. "I'm so gl-"

"WHAT THE HELL?!" yelled Phi angrily, freaking out Ivar, Jude, Alvin, and even Rowen from her dangerous dark aura. "Why the HELL are you here, and not back in Nia Khera?! You're supposed to be PROTECTING the people there instead of searching for your idol, MILLA! Didn't I say to go back to Nia Khera?! But would you listen?! NO! You just had to come, you SENILE OLD FART!"

If looks, especially angry, dangerous-looking ones, could kill, Ivar would be dead right now. Jude was cowering behind Milla, scared, Alvin and Rowen were taken aback, and Ivar's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Also, the girls were just surprised by Phi's outburst.

"W-what?! You're still calling me that?!" exclaimed Ivar. "Ugh, never mind!"

"Um...who's this guy?" asked Leia, turning to Jude.

Jude walked out from behind Milla and answered, "Milla's handmaid."

"Now that your legs have healed, you must return to the village at once. Please!" pleaded Ivar. "If something were to happen to you, I don't know what I'd do."

"I cannot return yet. I have business in Fenmont," explained Milla sternly.

"In that case, allow me to accompany you!"

_'No! If he does and gets killed along the way, Evan won't be born!' _thought Phi, also not wanting Ivar to come because he was annoying.

"That won't be neccessary. I have all the help I can get," replied Milla.

Ivar looked mad and looked like he was struggling to keep calm, creeping out Leia. "He's got some issues, huh?" Leia whispered to Jude.

"So with that said, PLEASE return back to Nia Khera," said Phi, smiling and speaking in the gentlest, cutest way as possible. All of the boys knew she was just faking that innocent look and actually steaming inside.

"You must feel pretty leased with yourself now that Lady Milla is back on her feet again," Ivar told Jude.

"Well, I did promise I would help her walk again, and here she is, walking," reminded Jude.

"How dare you take credit for this miracle!" accused Ivar, pointing a finger at Jude. "It was all due to Lady Milla's divine power! It must have been!"

"Milla," said Phi kindly. "If Ivar doesn't leave in one minute, may I have permission to throw him to Nia Khera?"

"Um...I'm quite sure that's a bad idea," said Rowen.

"Why?" wondered Milla, not getting what Phi was saying. Changing the subject, Milla turned to Ivar. "Anyways, Ivar, I gave you an important mission. Why are you here?"

Ivar then leaped into the air and landed in front of Milla before bowing down. "I've not forgotten about the safety of the village. And the item you entrusted to me is safe! I have it hidden in a place like no other. However, I currently received this."

Ivar handed a letter to Milla, and Milla took it before reading it outloud, "'Mexwell is in danger. You must rescue her at once.'"

"I rushed forth immediantly. I only just caught up to you, Lady Milla."

"Who could have written something like this?" wondered Jude, voicing Phi's thoughts.

_'He's right. This should have been written in the adventures Jude and his friends wrote back in my time. But it really isn't,' _thought Phi.

"I wonder," said Milla. "But in any case, it's mistaken. As you can see, I'm perfectly fine."

"Word of advice, Ivar," told Phi. "Ignore that letter. If more come, just ignore them no matter wha-Everyone, out of the way!" Everyone except Ivar, who had his back turned, ran out of the way as quickly as they could. Ivar turned around just in time to get knocked to the ground by a very large rat monster. (I decided to replace Brutaur with this unnamed being because it's much larger than Brutaur and possibly stronger)

"W-what is that thing?!" questioned Leia as she and the others got ready to fight.

"That doesn't matter! Hurry up and take care of Ivar!" ordered Phi. "Stay out of this, everyone, and let me handle it!"

"What's the problem? That thing's way too big for you!" reminded Alvin, reloading his gun.

"If I get in trouble, you guys can assist me from the back, but for right now, just take care of that senile old fart, Ivar, over there!" ordered Phi. "Besides, I wouldn't mind blowing off a little bit of steam right now!" _'If Ivar dies here, then that means Evan will never be born! I can't let that happen!' _

"Um...okay?" said Jude, feeling the anger that Phi was feeling towards the monster. Actually, that anger came from the frustration at seeing Ivar here.

Despite the rat monster's huge size, it has very low defence and speed in exchange for incredible strength. However, with Phi's anger increasing her strength and Elize and Leia giving her a huge boost for strength using their artes to back her up, Phi was powerful enough to face the rat monster.

As the rat monster brought down its huge claw, Phi caught it with all of her strength and threw it back, making the rat monster stumble before attacking with its other claw. Phi unsheathed her katana, stabbed it in the ground, and held it so tightly, she blocked the other claw with ease. Then, she leaped up into the air and kicked the monster so hard in the face, it fell to the ground as Phi landed on the ground, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

As Phi continued her brutal barrage of attacks with her hard fists and kicks and knocking back the rat monster, it's almost a miracle the poor monster wasn't dead yet. Elize and Leia had already healed Ivar, but he was knocked out, and everyone else was watching Phi battle the monster in astonishment.

"Wow, I never seen Phi like this before," admitted Leia. "She's so awesome! Go, Phi!"

"Yikes, just imagine what she'll be like in every battle," mumbled Alvin, sweatdropping.

"I don't believe there is anyone who can beat Phi right now," agreed Rowen, nodding his head.

"Interesting. So anger increases your strength. Perhaps if I become more angry every day, I will get stronger," said Milla, interested as she inspected the battle closely.

"No, not exactly," said Jude, sweatdropping. _'Phi's bad enough, but Milla? It'll be a nightmare!' _

Phi decided now would be the time to deliver the finishing blow as she grabbed her katana which was stuck in the ground, and leaped high in the air as Leia and Elize just finishing casting a support spell that increased her strength.

"This'll finish you off! Haaaa!" Letting out a cry, Phi brought her sword down as she jumped down, making a wide slash from the rat monster's shoulder down to the bottom, ultimately cutting it in half, thus killing it.

"She did it!" cheered Elize. Just then, Ivar started to wake up, and he clutched his head in pain. Phi sighed in relief when she saw him still alive. Good. Now her friend from the future, Evan, won't disappear.

"You call that timid? I thought you said that monster would be a pussycat now that it's Solum and Ragnome here," said Alvin, confronting Rowen. "But look! While Phi was beating the crap of it, it started lashing out violently!"

"That would be the case," agreed Rowen. "Unless-!"

"With the Four Great Spirits missing, the spirit climes have essentially stopped shifting," grunted Ivar, getting up.

"Great. How will we cross Ferzebel Marsh to get to Fenmont?" questioned Jude.

"Cross Ferzebel Marsh?" said Ivar, surprised. "Hahaha! You people are out of your minds!"

"Hey! Knock it off, you senile old fart!" scolded Phi. "You have any other bright ideas that might lead us to Fenmont, because if you do, we'd sure LOVE to hear them!"

"Stop calling me that! Anyways, you need a wyvern to reach Fenmont at this point! Fortunately, it just so happens that I, the redoubtable handmaid, can be of assistance to Lady Milla!"

_'Oh yeah, that's right. Unfortunely, I've never seen a wyvern before. I did hear they were in Xian Du, but in my time, all of them were extinct,' _thought Phi. _'That, and because they were turned to Dark Spirits themselves.' _

"Do you know a way to get there?" asked Milla.

"I have in my possession, a wyvern faithful only to me," explained Ivar. "I would be happy to transport Lady Milla to Fenmont."

"Hey! What about the rest of us?" questioned Phi. "We need to get to Fenmont too! Don't you have other wyverns?"

"I only have one, and my wyvern can only carry TWO people! I don't need the rest of you, especially you, girl! You're the only one so far who's been rude to me!" argued Ivar.

_'That self-satisfied bastard! Well, the second he leaves, I'll pretend I remember something and tell the others there might be wyverns in Xian Du,' _thought Phi, strategizing.

"Ivar, is there another way?" asked Milla.

"Huh? Oh, well..."

"There is, isn't there? Tell me."

"..." Ivar looked away before telling her, "I have heard of a clan in Xian Du that can control monsters. They raise Wyverns there, apparently."

"I guess there's out next step," announced Alvin.

_'Well, I guess Evan's dad really is useful sometimes,'_ thought Phi.

"Ivar, thank you," thanked Milla before she noticed Ivar didn't respond back. "Ivar?"

"Uh, shall we go?" asked Jude.

"Yeah," agreed Phi. "Let's move, people! We have to get to Fenmont as soon as possible!"

"No need to tell me twice," said Alvin. "I'll lead the way. I've been there quite a couple times." With that said, the others headed towards Xian Du, leaving Ivar to whatever he's going.

* * *

Skit: Secret

"So Leia, how did you know which ship we would be going to?" asked Jude curiously.

Before Leia could answer, she could see Phi right behind Jude. Her expression on her face reminded Leia that she had promised not to mention herself, so that meant Leia had to lie. "Um...well, I got on a ship that was heading towards Sapstrath, and I ended up here."

"So it was just by luck? Man, bad luck really is a frightening thing," said Jude before walking away.

As soon as he left, Leia asked, "Hey Phi! Why do you want to keep it a secret that badly?"

"Didn't I say no questions? You did promise after all," reminded Phi.

"True...fine! But, I'll somehow trick you into telling me someday!"

"I'll look forward to it."

"...Phi? Can you tell me why it's not a secret?'

"Nice try, Leia. But it'll take more than that."

"Oh man!"

* * *

Skit: Pigs fly

"Tell me, Phi. You are a Spirit, yes?" questioned Milla.

"Not again. I told you over and over I'm not a spirit," said Phi.

"Then, what are you?"

"A human."

While Milla was confronting Phi about whether she was a spirit or not, Alvin and the others were watching from nearby. "Man, Milla sure doesn't give up interrogating Phi, does she?" said Alvin, crossing his arms.

"This is the fifteenth time today she's asked Phi that. You think she'd give up after Phi given the same answer over and over," sighed Jude.

"The day Milla finally accepts Phi being a human is the day pigs fly," joked Leia.

"Phi! Look out behind you!" cried Milla, pointing behind Phi. Phi turned around to see a wild boar charging towards her at fully speed.

"Get out of my way!" With a yell, Phi used her bare hands to stop the boar, though she did slid back a few inches. Then, she picked it up by the horns and threw it towards the sky, where it was never seen again.

"...So, what was it about pigs flying?" said Jude.

"Thaat-that doesn't count!" exclaimed Leia, still shocked over what happened.

* * *

Skit: War Cry

"Be careful! There are a lot of enemies surrounding us!" warned Milla as she and her companions were surrounded by a large group of small monsters that seem agile and quick.

"Man, these monsters are really getting on my nerves," said Alvin as he reloaded his gun.

"I'll take care of this," said Phi, stepping forward. She took a deep breath, then let it all out by producing a high-pitched screech that was heard all throughout the highroads, scaring all of the small monsters away and making everyone else cover their ears.

When all of the monsters were gone, Teepo asked, "W-what was that?!"

"I've never seen a technique like that. Impressive. What's it called?" asked Milla.

"It's a simple technique called, War Cry. I learned it from my uncle," answered Phi honestly. "It's simple, but maybe a bit difficult for all of you. You have to scream at the top of your lungs in battle for it to worry. It'll create sound waves throughout the area that stun opponents for a few seconds, depending. It can also scare away monsters, but only if they're about your size or less. It took me a few years to fully master that without getting a sore throat."

"That's so awesome! And pretty handy too!" admitted Jude. "Okay! Can you teach me how to do that?"

"I also want to learn," agreed Milla.

"Me too!" said Elize.

"Yeah! I'm in!" said Leia.

"Why not? It might come in handy later on," said Alvin.

"I'm afraid I cannot. I am pretty old, and if I were younger, I would be glad to do so," said Rowen sadly.

"Okay! Let me go first!" cheered Leia. "Haaaaa!"

"Sorry, but that was more of a shout. You have to scream it out," instructed Phi. "Like this! ...HAAAAAAAA!" Once Phi performed War Cry once more, some of the plants surrounding her blew away, and everyone had to cover their ears as the sound echoed throughout the highroads.

"Damn! That was loud!" said Alvin.

Later, everyone but Rowen and Phi were gasping for breath. All of them had sore throats from screaming too much. Jude tried to scream in front of a weak monster that was way too small for him. But, when the monster didn't leave, it instead started scratching at his face. The result was the same for the others, but the only difference was that they were attacked in many different ways.

"Phi...? I...I don't think we can do the War Cry...like you can," croaked out Elize.

Phi sighed. "I figured as much. Normally, I wouldn't let you all give up, but seeing how all of you have sore throats, I guess I'll be the only one using that technique. I'm sorry for causing you all so much pain."

"It's fine," rasped out Jude.

* * *

Skit: Anger issues

"Come on, people! Let's move!" called Phi, way ahead of the others.

"Hey Phi, wait! I've been meaning to ask you something," called back Alvin, catching up to her.

"What?"

"What's your deal with Ivar? When he came, you suddenly lashed out at him, and to be honest, I was literally surprised."

"Oh, that. I don't think Phi likes people who doesn't take their orders seriously," said Jude.

"Um...you're kinda right," admitted Phi.

"What about when you called Ivar a 'senile old fart?'" asked Rowen.

"Yeah...Look, first of all, I'm not talking about you Rowen, so you're okay," assured Phi. "Second, he has white hair. I know it's silver hair, but to me, it's white. Also, he's annoying and yelled at Jude despite the fact he's done nothing wrong. That's why I'm calling him that."

'And you took out your anger on that huge monster," reminded Alvin.

"Yes. And that was quite refreshing. Though, I'm sorry if I scared any of you," apologized Phi, bowing her head.

"Well, I wouldn't really call it scary, but do maintain your anger issues, alright?" requested Rowen.

"I know. I will try to restrain myself, but if worse comes to worse, I'm going to throw an enemy as hard as I could," said Phi in the sweetest tone ever.

"...What?" asked Jude. Before he could question more, Phi ran off. "...That was scary."

"Women always are scary, kid. It's part of life," said Alvin, throwing his arm around Jude's shoulders. "...Just imagine if Milla was angry."

The three men shuddered at the thought and just kept on walking.

* * *

Skit: Boyfriend?

"Hey Phi! Since you and Jude look alike, would you two be considered boyfriend and girlfriend?" teased Alvin.

"W-what?!" exclaimed Jude.

_'Ugh! Sicko! Jude's-well, he's technically going to be my father in this time, and I understand that the others don't know that, but still!' _thought Phi. "No. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings Jude, but I don't like you in that way, and I never will. We'll still be friends, anyways."

"Ouch! Turned down so quickly," said Alvin. "And here I thought the honor's student was a ladies man with all of the girls in our team. Well, except for Phi."

"Says the guy who keeps writing to a mysterious woman," countered Phi. "Speaking of which, who is that lady you keep writing to?"

"Aren't you a bit too young to know about love already?"

"Says the guy who just proclaimed that me and Jude should be lovers," said Phi.

"Heh, you've got a point there."

"You still haven't answered my question. Who is she?"

"One of my clients."

_'Yeah, I doubt that. But, in order not to raise suspicion on Alvin, I have to play it cool,' _thought Phi. "Fine. Whatever. Oh, and don't you dare say that me and Jude are boyfriend and girlfriend. That's just disgusting."

"Oh? And what'll you do if I do say it?"

"Oh, then I'll call you a senile old fart too. And believe me, there are plenty of insults I could say to your face."

"Fine, fine. You win."

* * *

Skit: Differences in age

"By the way, Phi? I don't mean to be impolite, but how old are you?" asked Elize.

"...20 years old."

"Whoa! Seriously?!" exclaimed Leia.

"I'm just joking around. I'm actually 12 years old."

"That means you're the same age as Elize!" pointed out Jude.

"Yet you still don't act your age," said Alvin.

"Hey! I'm a respectable adult who takes things seriously," said Phi.

"Okay, one, being an adult means you have to be 18 years old," reminded Jude. "And two, you may be mature and all, but I'm sorry to say this, but you can be quite rude sometimes."

"...Oh. I'm sorry if I'm rude then. I'll try to change," apologized Phi, bowing her head.

"It's fine," said Jude.

* * *

**Whew! I'm done for today! Please read and review!**


	7. Xian Du

**I am so excited about this story! Only wish I had some ideas for this story from the reviews, though. Anyways, here's the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Tales of Xillia, only the OCs! **

* * *

At last, the party arrived in Xian Du, which happened to be a huge city with huge cliffs, bridges, friendtly tamed monsters, and stone buildings. It was rumored that it was a LONG way down from jumping off the bridge and into the bottom.

"So this is Xian Du. Seems like a tough place to build a city," murmured Jude.

"Clans have warred against each other in Auj Oule since ancient times," explained Rowen. "Such constant conflict had led people to build cities where they can, even in places like this."

'The city seems especially lively. Are they having some kind of festival?" wondered Milla.

"Hey! Check out this cool statue!" said Leia, pointing to one of the tall, crafted stone statues near the entrance.

"These statues represent a fusion of international spirit faith and the loca tradition of ancestor worship," explained Phi, impressing Leia even more.

"Yep, keepy your noggin pointed in that general direction," said Alvin.

"Huh?" Leia looked at Alvin, confused.

"Don't look at me. Look up! This town is infamous for falling rocks."

"What?! Don't scare me like that!" said Leia.

"You speak as though you know the area," said Milla to Alvin, quite suspiciously.

"Been here before. Business trip."

When Jude saw Elize staring and looked around the area, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Hey, this place looks familiar, ain't it, Elly?" asked Teepo.

"Yes, it is. Um...I think we were taken here, on our way to Hamil."

"Did you once live in this area?" asked Rowen.

"I don't know."

"Uh...what's going on? Is there something I should know?" asked Phi.

"Oh yeah. You're probably the only one who doesn't know," said Jude. "You see..."

Jude explained to Phi that Elize has been trapped in the town of Hamil by a man named Jiao, and the villagers treat her horribly there, until Jude and his friends showed up. Since then, Elize has been trying to find out the truth about her past.

_'Oh yeah...Elize's parents are dead, and she was born in some snowy lands,' _thought Phi. _'Or, at least the Jiao in my time told me that his mother told him.' _

Leia noticed Alvin walking away, and asked, "Hey! Where are you headed off to?"

"Duty calls. I'll see you all in a bit," replied Alvin before leaving.

"Hmph! You're not much of a team player!"

"You okay with this?" Phi heard Jude ask Milla.

"Leave him be. I know he'll be back. Let's look for those wyverns."

_'Okay, any second, a boulder is going to fall from above,' _thought Phi, glancing up at the top of the cliffs in Xian Du. _'I need to decide who to save. Everyone will survive, so...I think I'll take Jude and Elize.' _

Just then, as if on cue, a few small rocks came from the sky, and everyone else looked up to see a boulder was about to fall from the cliff. "It's going to fall!" cried Milla.

"Everyone, run!" ordered Phi, grabbing onto Elize's and Jude's waists before leaping into the air and jumping into a far, safe distance while Rowen tackled Leia to the ground and Milla ran for it.

**CRASH! **The sound of the boulder crashing down was so loud, all of Xian Du heard it. Phi set Elize and Jude down and asked them, "Are you two alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine," said Jude, nodding his head.

"I'm not fine! I'm not fine at all!" cried Teepo, scared.

"Miss Leia, please wake up!" pleaded Rowen, shaking the unconscious Leia as the others ran towards them.

"Heh, sorry about that," apologized Leia drowzily.

"Jude! Hurry up and examine her!" ordered Phi, frantically worried for Leia's life.

"Right! I'll have you fixed right up!" agreed Jude, kneeling besides Leia before healing her.

Leia turned her head to Rowen and saw a bit of a gash across his cheek. "Rowen, you're hurt. I'm so sorry."

"Never fear. It is merely a flesh wound. You just worry about yourself."

A few citizens of Xian Du were examining the ruins of the boulder, wondering what could happened. Then, a woman with short dark hair rushed over and said, "I'm a doctor. Let me help." After Leia was helped, the woman helped her up. "There you go. Easy does it."

"Thanks so much, Miss...um..."

"The name's Isla. You're going to be just fine."

_'Isla, huh? So, this Aylen's mother,' _thought Phi. _'This is my first time seeing her, and looks like Aylen was right. She does look beautiful, even in this time. Hmm...from what Aylven told me and the others, his mother was a part of Exodus in this time, but she fell in love with Aylen's father, Yurgen. But that's all I know.' _

"Take it easy, Leia," assured Milla.

"You should sit down for a while," suggested Jude before turning to Isla. "Thanks so much, Isla. That was really kind of you."

"Yeah. That was nice of you to help," said Leia.

Isla shook her head. "Not at all. That's my job. You folks don't look like you're around here. What brings you to town?"

"We're searching for wyverns. We heard we might be able to find some here," answered Milla.

"Wyverns, huh? In that case, you shoudl head across the river. You'll find some big ones in cages over there."

"That's great news! Thank you for everything, Isla!" thanked Jude.

Islan chuckled. "I'm just glad I could help. Well, I gotta run. Take care of yourselves. Bye now."

"Goodbye, and thanks again," thanked Leia. After resting a bit, the group headed towards the direction where Leia told them to go, and soon, they found a small zoo of very few wyverns trapped in a large cage.

"Amazing. I've seen wyverns in books, but never in real life," admitted Phi.

"Who;s a good wyvern?" cooed Teepo. "Who's a good wyvern?!"

The shocking response Teepo received was a roar coming from one of the wyverns, who frightened Teepo and made him swallow Jude's face...again. After Jude finally pried Teepo off his face, a man with two companions walked up to the group.

"You there! What do you think you're doing? Those wyverns belong to our clan," called the man in the middle.

"We've come to take them. I'm pondering how to break the cages," admitted Milla straight on.

"Milla, that's considered stealing! It'll make you a criminal," explained Phi, shocked of how Milla could say that without blinking an eye.

"Um...can we borrow your wyverns?" asked Jude politely.

"You can't be serious!" one of the men said.

"Ignore these outsiders. We're running out of time to find a champion," advised the woman. Milla glanced at one of the wyverns with calm eyes, and the wyvern bowed its head, letting a low purr in response.

"What?! It submitted to her without the use of beastcraft!' one of the men exclaimed. "These people might be our answer."

"Wait, hold on! You can't possibly be thinking of recruiting these fools!" the woman cried.

The man ignored her and turned to the group. "I'm Yurgen of the Kitral Clan. You outsiders have arrived in Xian Du at a crucial time for us. I'm sure you've noticed the crowds in the city."

_'Oh! So that's why that man looked familiar! He's Aylen's father! At least he and Isla are safe for now,' _thought Phi, a look of realization on her face.

"Once, every decade, Xian Du's clans hold a martial arts tournament. That tournament is tommorow," continued Yurgen. "Our chief is the clan's only fighter, but unfortunely, he is league's away from the king's service. We're on the verge of forfeiting the tournament. This is a desperate time for our ancient and proud clan. And yet, I sense a special power within you. Would you be willing to represent the Kitarl Clan as our champions?"

"Heck yeah! Where do I sign up?!" asked Leia, excitedly raising her hand.

"Leia, he's asking all of us," corrected Jude.

"If we enter the tournament on your behalf, will you allow us to borrow your wyverns?" asked Milla.

"That's the bargain," agreed Yurgen. "But you must do more than just enter. You must win. I'll need to see a demostration of your abilities beforehand as well."

"We can do it, can we, Milla?" asked Leia.

"Yes. We need those wyverns."

"Awesome! I always wanted to be in a real martial arts tournament! I'm stoked!"

"You sure it's okay for outsiders like us to participate in the clans' tournament?" asked Jude.

"That's not a problem," answered one of the men. "Some clans have been known to recruit skilled warriors from the outside to boost their prestige."

"Huh. I figured you folks were bigger sticklers for tradition," said Alvin, who came walking up to the area. "I'm gone five minutes and you get us neck deep in contact sports? I can't take you people anywhere."

"Oh, how long were you there?" asked Phi calmly.

"Where have you been, little buddy?!" complained Teepo angrily. "We were nearly squished!"

"Sorry about that, spud. I had a feeling you were all in trouble though, so I came running. No harm, no foul, right?"

Yurgen turned to Jude and asked, "He a friend of yours?"

"That's right. We're a package deal," answered Alvin.

"Good, then you can show me your combat skills. Come to the aerial arena." Soon, the group followed Yurgen to the tournament aerial arena, where it was large and almost reached the skies. Of course, they had to take a boat ride to the arena's entrance, sign up, and then arrive where the battlefield would take place.

"Ohhh! Now this is what I like to call an arena!" cheered Leia.

"Maybe you're a little _too_ into this, Leia," said Jude.

"Oh, come on! Aren't you ready to rumble?!" squealed Leia.

"I'm not sure I'd put it like that. Your old wounds aren't acting up, are they?" asked Jude, concerned.

"Huh? Uh, no. It's fine! Now that we're doing this, it's going to have to heal whether it likes it or not!"

"Time to start the test. Are you ready?" asked Yurgen.

"Yes, go ahead," assured Milla.

"We'll be watching from the stands," said Yurgen before he and his friends walked out of the arena. Jude and the others heard the sound of a gate opening and turned to see a few monsters appear out of it. Everyone immediantly took out their weapons and prepared to fight.

Two of the monsters stood by and started channeling some spirits while the other two charged right in to distract the others. "Whirling Assault!" cried Milla, taking the first move and slicing and spinning in the air and sending one of the charging monsters up to the sky.

"Phi!" called Jude as he and Phi ran ahead side-by-side. Jude bent down, and cupped his hands together. Phi jumped on top of his cupped hands, and Jude launched her towards the flying monster.

Letting out a yell, Phi kicked the monster high in the sky, where it was no longer visible and faded away in the clouds. Realizing that Phi was falling down from a very high distance, Jude reached out his arms and caught her in time.

"You okay?" he asked, putting her down.

"I'm fine, thanks, though."

Alvin, who had just seen the monster disappear into the sky, whistled. "Man, that was really far, almost like she broke a world record."

"Alvin! Focus!" scolded Rowen as he and Elize were casting spirit artes. He would be casting offensive artes while Elize would be casting supportive ones. Speaking of which, Leia had just defeated and beaten up the second charging monster with a few staff tricks.

Suddenly, the monsters that were channeling spirits had finally caught enough to cast a spirit artes called Rock Mountain, which resulted with giant rocks appearing from the sky and pelting down on the party.

"Aaaahh! I don't wanna experience this again!" cried Teepo as Elize was clutching onto him. Milla was trying to channel spirits as fast as she could to cast a spirit arte that could destroy all, if not most, of the falling rocks. Alvin and Leia were working side by side to defend against the rocks and Rowen and Jude were trying to dodge the rocks while trying to get everyone to safety.

Phi was also doing her best to reach the monsters that had casted the arte in the first place, but as she was trying to reach them, the boulders kept getting in her way, irritating her. Then, she turned and saw a boulder was about to land on top of Elize and Teepo-!

"Get back!" shouted Phi, rushing towards Elize's side and preparing for the falling boulders. As Phi defended with her katana, the boulders came at her repeatedly with a crushing might that felt like one of them could take her life with one hit. There wasn't any room for Phi to land a counterattack. In fact, a small rock had hit Phi's forehead so hard, blood started gushing out of it.

Elize gasped when she saw blood running through Phi's forehead and immediantly chanted, "Sing in unison a song of regeneration! Fairy Circle!" She didn't have enough time to collect lots of spirits to form a huge healing circle, but she focused her healing on a small circle surrounding Phi, completely healing her wounds.

"Jude!" cried Leia, readying her staff as she dodged more boulders. She and Jude ran in opposite directions, running towards one of the remaining monsters.

"Tempest Clash!" both of them shouted in unison, slashing through the monster in the blink of an eye with Leia's staff and Jude's fists.

"Let's go, too!" Alvin ordered Milla and Rowen. Alvin and Rowen charged towards the last monster while Milla was knocking the falling rocks that were about to crash down on both men.

"Hell Pyre!" yelled Alvin and Rowen. Rowen was showering fireballs at the monster while Alvin had shot up in the air and slashed down with his one-handed sword, annihilating the monster.

Once the monsters were defeated, everyone sighed in relief before putting their weapons away. "That was certainely a workout," said Milla, amused.

"Phi, are you alright? Your forehead was bleeding!" asked Elize, concerned.

"Don't worry. Thank you for healing me," thanked Phi.

"My, that wasn't so bad at all!" said Rowen.

"Says the old man who kept dancing around, trying to dodge all those boulders," said Alvin.

"Why, you were doing the same thing too!"

Just then, Yurgen and his friends rushed to the arena, looking impressed. "I was afraid we might had to step in and rescue you, but clearly that wasn;'t neccessary," said one of the men.

"Of course not! We're unbeatable!" bragged Teepo.

_'Says him. Just yesterday, it took Rowen about almost an hour to patch him up,' _thought Phi, sweatdropping.

"My apologies. I guess I underestimated you," apologized Yurgen.

"Just me?!" exclaimed Teepo, looking mad.

Alvin chuckled. "Pretty sure everybody here underestimates you."

"Here, don't make fun of my friend," scolded Elize gently.

"Heh heh. Sorry."

"Tommorow's tournament will be more challenging," warned Yurgen. "They used to fight up to the death. It was the only one to determine the ruling clan. Fortunely, things are different now. The current Kind of Auj Oule outlawed that old practice."

_'That's so like Uncle Gaius to put up something like that,' _thought Phi, glad. _'Oh wait. I shouldn't call him Uncle in this time. I'll just refer to him as King Gaius for now.' _

"Sounds like the king's a real prince!" said Teepo, surprised.

"Anyways, the real test will be tommorow. I've gotten rooms for you at the inn. Make sure to get a full night's rest."

**CRASH! **Suddenly, one of the monsters Phi had sent flying came crashing down. Everyone jumped up in surprise at the sudden encounter. "...I'll pay for the damage later," promised Phi as she and the others sweatdropped.

* * *

_At the inn... _

"Ahh! Finally! Soft, warm beds for once!" sighed Leia, jumping onto her own bed. Milla, Leia, Elize, and Phi were sharing a huge girl's room while the boys had their own room. The girl's room was much biger than the boys, so they were lucky.

"Yeah! Sleepover!" cheered Teepo, flying around.

"Interesting. I have never done a sleepover before. Will any of you show me what it is?" asked Milla, curious.

"Of course, Milla! It'll be wonderful!" agreed Leia, standing up.

While Leia, Milla, and Elize were excitedly chatting like any other gossiping girl would on a sleepover, Phi was the only one who didn't join them. Instead, she just sat on her own bed, in deep thought about tommorow.

_'Let's see if I can remember the events about tommorow,' _thought Phi. _'Tommorow, we have to get to the finals, alright. But we take a break. Also, our lunch is packed with poison, and almost everyone who ate it died. I won't have time to track down the Exodus scum who poisoned the food. In the book, it says Alvin takes off somewhere. I'm betting he went to the kitchen, so I'll go with him. Damn it! Why can't I remember anything else? Something important happened the next day, but the Exodus team wasn't after Milla, they were after something else! But what?' _

"Phi?" called Elize, walking towards Phi. "Do you want to join our sleepover?"

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm too tired," apologized Phi, giving a small smile at the girl. "I'm going to sleep now, okay? I'd also appreciate it if you kept the volume down a little."

"Oh, okay then. Goodnight."

* * *

_The next day... _

Once arriving at the inn's lounge, the others had met up with Yurgen and his companions, full awake. "You look bright-eyed and ready to fight. Good," praised Yurgen. "Today's schedule is packed. Because of the number of participants, the tournament organizers decided to cram all the fights into one day."

"One day? Sounds rough," complained Jude.

"But it'll help us get stronger," told Phi.

"Agreed. This will be a good opportunity," said Milla.

"We'll find out how many fights there'll be once today's matchups are announced," said one of Yurgen's companions. "When you hear the bell tolling, come to the arena at once. That heralds the start of the tournament. We'll be waiting up at the arena."

After Yurgen and his friends left, Alvin said, "Guess we have some time to kill. What do we do?"

"I'm going to the plaza. Something's bother me," announced Milla.

"Oh, I'll come too! I'll get too antsy just standing around here," decided Leia.

"I'll go too," said Phi, worried about Exodus agents being in Xian Du.

"Hmm...maybe I'll tag along, too," suggested Alvin.

"What should I do?" wondered Jude.

Elize and Teepo walked up to Jude. "Hey, Jude! Let's go sightseeing!" said Teepo excitedly.

"I want to look around the city too," said Elize, shyly.

"Oh yeah. You did say this place seemed familiar."

"I shall escort Miss Elize. Will you also accompany me?" asked Rowen.

"Sure, why not."

"Don't forget. Race to the arena when you hear the bell," reminded Alvin.

Once outside of the inn, Milla walked to the area where the rocks had fallen from yesterday and began investigating while Alvin, Leia, and Phi were curiously watching her. "What are you doing?" asked Phi.

"You didn't come here to examine the debris?" Alvin asked Milla.

"It's not important."

"Isla!" called Leia. Everyone turned to see the woman that helped heal Leia walking towards their direction. Phi was really glad Isla was safe, but she couldn't help but wonder if Isla was still part of Exodus.

"You seemed to have healed nicely," said Isla gently.

"Yeah, thanks to you!" Leia noticed Isla staring at Alvin and looked back and forth between them. "Um...you know Alvin?"

"Uh, no."

_'Oh, right. Isla's taking care of Alvin's mother. But in the end, Isla ends up poisoning Alvin's mother to relieve her painful disease,' _thought Phi, looking down sadly. _'...I'm sorry Alvin. I won't be able to save your mother. And, I'm sorry Recon, I won't be able to save your grandmother, I think this is the right way.' _

"It's okay, Doctor Isla," assured Alvin. "The good doctor here is actually taking care of my mother."

"Is that right? She's here in town?" asked Milla.

"Oh, so that's why you have so much local knowledge!" said Leia.

"Her health's not so good," explained Alvin. "My father's gone, and I don't have any brothers or sisters, so the doctor keeps an eye on her while I'm away."

"You just told us more about yourself in one minute than we have since we met," pointed out Milla.

"If you say so. I just...I just want to make her feel better so that I can take her home."

'Where's that? Is it far from here?" asked Leia.

"...Farther than you can imagine."

_'He's obviously from Elympios, not that I already know,' _thought Phi, crossing her arms.

"Well, if there's anything we can do to help, don't hesitate to ask," said Milla kindly.

"...Sure, yeah. If I think of something," agreed Alvin.

"Yurgen? Aren't you supposed to be at the arena?" asked Isla suddenly, causing the other four to turn and see Yurgen heading towards their direction.

"I had to run an errand," replied Yurgen before turning to the four. "I didn't know you were friends with Isla."

"We just met her yesterday. Well, all of us except Alvin," said Phi. "We didn't know you were friends with Isla either."

"We're more than just friends. Isla's my fiancee," said Yurgen.

"Wow, congratulations!" cheered Leia as Phi sighed in relief. Now, Aylen, whose going to be Isla and Yurgen's son in the future will be saved! That was one future child down, jus...eight more to go including herself.

Yurgen chuckled. "Thank you. Isla, these people are our clan's champions in the tournament."

"Oh, marriage! I know what that is!" said Milla suddenly. "May you breed like rats and produce many children that survive childbirth!"

Leia, Phi, and Alvin were shocked to hear Milla say that. Out of all the ridiculous things to say, she had to say that! _'Yeah...not something I expected to hear in this lifetime,' _thought Phi, still shocked.

Phi shook her head and turned to the soon-to-be couple, "W-what she means is that may you have a nice good marriage and live a happy life with children around! Right, _guys?" _

"Y-yeah! Right!" said Leia as Alvin chuckled.

Then, the bell for the tournament started ringing throughout Xian Du. "The tournament's starting," said Yurgen.

"I'm sorry. I'd love to watch, but I have work today," apologized Isla.

"That's too bad. Pray for our victory."

Once at the arena's entrance inside, Jude, Elize, and Rowen were already waiting for them. "Jude, guess what?" called Leia. "Yurgen and Isla know each other! They're actually engaged!"

"You're kidding!" gasped Jude. "When's the big day?"

Yurgen chuckled. "Come on, stop it. It's not for awhile."

"And get this, Isla is taking care of Alvin's mom," informed Leia. "It really is a small world."

"Wait, what's wrong with Alvin's mom?' asked Jude, concerned.

"No need to worry about her, busybody," said Alvin.

"What about you? Learn anything about Elize?" asked Milla.

"A little. She seems to have remember something about her parents," said Jude. "Not enough to give us clues, though."

"Playtime's over. We're just about to get started," announced Yurgen.

At outside of the arena, the party saw a very large audience in the stands, cheering them on. They were relieved that the rules stated it couldn't be a battle to the death, especially Phi. Thanks goodness her uncle wasn't a dicator or a terriorist or something like that. Oops, she has to call him King Gaius for now.

**"They're the only combatants who won't be controlling monsters with beastcraft!" **announced the announcer through the microphone. **"It may be mysterious, but they will be going up against monsters!" **

"Um...did he just say monsters?" asked Leia, sound a bit frightened.

"Don't worry, Leia. We've fought monsters before. This will be a...what do you call it? Oh, a cakewalk," assured Phi.

**"Here comes their opponents!" **Just then, three armored monsters with their leader, a man with a big shield, thick armor, and lance, walked up to the arena as their opponents.

Everyone else unsheathed their weapons and prepared to fight. "Let's do this!" cried out Jude, jumping into the air. "Rowen, Phi! Take care of the shield wielder! Everyone else, give them time by attacking the monsters! Rising Falcon!" Jude dives downwards towards one of the shelled monsters and kicked it at the cent of its shell, but the monster didn't even flinch and shook Jude off. Milla rushed to his side, and together, both concentrated on trying to break through the monster's defenses.

"Leia!" called Alvin, rushing to her side as Leia was fending off against one of the three armored creatures. Leia nodded before leaping up and landing on the opposite side of the creature she was currently fighting.

"Impact Cross!" both shouted, sliding past each other with their weapons as their attacks hit the armored creature's sides. It may have been fast, but there was bery little damage, especially since the monster had armor on.

"Damn! This is going to be tougher than I thought!" grunted Alvin as the armored creature was raming towards him while Alvin was blocking with his sword. Leia was trying to attack the monster, but its hide weas tough, and the monster paid no heed to her.

"Nya! Nya! Come and get me!" taunted Teepo, flying around the third armored monster. The monster tried to swipe him with its tiny claws, but it wouldn't reach Teepo no matter what, especially since he was flying.

While Teepo was distracting the monster, Elize was casting a offensive spirit arte as quickly as she could. "Unleash, claws of darkness! Negative Gate!"

A sphere of darkness and large dark hands appeared beneath the monster Teepo was distracting. Teepo immediantly got out of that mess and flew next to Elize's side while she was concentrating on taking down the monster. So far, Elize was doing the most damage to her opponent while the others was having trouble, and she was the healer of the party. It seems the monster was weak to spirit magic.

Phi and Rowen were currently in the middle of a fight, and their opponent is the shield wielder, and despite him being a shield-user, he can also sometimes predict their attacks and move away or block the attacks.

With a loud cry, the shield wielder jabbed his lance several times at Rowen, who was engaged in close-combat with him. As Phi watched anxiously from a few steps back, Rowen stepped left and right, elegantly dodging the blows. Even on a 2-on-1 situation, both couldn't fight at once when confronted with a skilled, fully-armored enemy since it could mean an hindrance. So, both decided without saying anything that they would occasionally switch and slowly lower the enemy's defenses.

Finally, after a few more jabs, the shield wielder grew tired and his posture fell slightly off-balance. Rowen took this chance and went straight in. The thrusts of the silver, glinting rapier landed one after another, all hitting their marks on the shield-wielder's armor. Each individual hit didn't cause much damage, much less a crack, but its speed was almost equal to Phi's speed, something Phi was amazed at.

After getting hit by three more short jabs, the shield-wielder's guard went slightly up, and Rowen switched his style to slash at the shield-wielder's armored legs. While the shield-wielder was winching in pain, Rowen, with his blade tip shining with the sunlight, send two strong jabs high and low. So, this must mean what they call sword dancing.

"Miss Phi! Go!" shouted Rowen, dodging the opponent's lance.

"Right!" Phi rushed to raise her katana, and at the same time, Rowen performed one last stab. The shield-user deflected the blow with the shield held in his left hand and bright sparks came flying off. Both the enemy and Rowen were left stunned, for a moment. Rowen quickly gotten out of range, and that was all Phi needed.

She charged fiercely at the enemy, but the shield-user tried to stab her with his lance at fast as he could. Phi parried the lance, kicked the shield as hard as she could, which resulted in the shield-user being forced back a bit, and charged again. Phi delivered a strong downward strike to the shield-user's right shoulder, then twisted her wrist and bright it back up again.

Afterwards, the shield-user brought up his shield and blocked the other attacks Phi would deliver. However, the shield-user was all out of juice, while Phi had more. She closed in on the shield-user, letting out a cry as she swung her katana horizontally. The sword cut through the lower part of the shield-user's armor, but luckily, not the stomach part.

Phi's chain attack wasn't quite finished. She followed with a horizontal swing from right to left, slicing through the shield-user's shoulder. In this state, she spun her body in a full circle and slashed at his back, much deeper than any of her previous attacks. The shield-user yelled out of pain.

As soon as he quickly recovered from being stunned briefly, he turned and raised his lance high in the air and slashed down. However, Phi bent down in time and slashed at the shield-user's chest, before her opponent finally fell to the ground, unconscious.

Phi knew now is not the time to be celebrating, and rushed to Rowen, who had seen everything. "Hey! What happened with the rest of the monsters?!"

"Don't worry, the others are almost done," assured Rowen, pointing to where the others were battling. Phi turned to see Alvin stabbing one of the armored monster's skin, defeating it finally. Milla was spinning in the air along with the monster she was fighting before she slashed at its unprotected stomach. Jude and Elize were healing Leia, who had more bruises than anyone else.

**"Wow! What a shocking turn of events! Here comes the next group!" **called the announcer after their opponents were carried away. The next group consisted of three peacock monsters and the ringleader with chained daggers and a crossbow.

"I'll get the ringleader!" announced Phi, charging forth. She pushed off the ground using one palm and somersaulted into the air as the battle started. Alvin and Jude were fighting alongside together, trying to finish off one peacock monster, while Leia and Milla were fighting together and taking care of the second. Also, Rowen was fending off against the third monster while Elize was casting supportive artes to everyone.

The ringleader was nowhere to be found even when Phi was temporarily in the sky and searching for the ringleader. Suddenly, Alvin felt an arrow hit his left shoulder. "Ow!" he groaned, clutching onto it.

"Alvin!" shouted Jude, rushing to his side, but not before dodging an arrow that almost hit his feet. "Where's it coming from?"

"Elize! Watch out!" cried Leia, jumping to Elize's side. She twirled her staff around in a circular motion, almost as if making a shield, and deflected three arrows that appeared out of nowhere. "Whew! That was too close!"

"Thanks, big buddy!" thanked Teepo, grateful.

"Where's the arrows coming from? questioned Rowen, searching around. The only one that wasn't here was the ringleader, but she wasn't in the skies or anywhere in the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the ringleader was standing on top of the stands of the arena, way above the audience, and yet, the audience haven't noticed her. There were no rules stating she COULDN'T be on top of the stands to fight. She laid an arrow on her crossbow, closed one eye, and aimed for Rowen before shooting.

She glanced down from her position and found it odd. Rowen didn't take a hit, and she was a master sniper! Even if she had miss, the arrow should have landed in the ground, but where is it? She decided to try again, and aimed real carefully before firing.

**SWOOSH! **There it is again! No arrow, and no target laying on the ground, bleeding! "What's going on?!" she muttered, frustrated.

"Hey!" The ringleader turned to see Phi on top of the stands with her, only a little bit far away. Phi was holding two arrows in one hand, so it was most likely she caught them on time. "Is this what you're looking for?"

**CRACK! **Lowering her fingers down, she broke the two arrows in half and let them wander into the wind. Jude looked up and saw the confrontation between the two fighters. "Hey, guys! Look up!" called Jude. Everyone turned to see what Jude was saying.

"W-well I'll be," grunted Alvin, holding his guard up against a monster with his sword despite the fact he was still injured. "Looks like Phi's found our ringleader."

"W-why you-!" hissed the ringleader, loading another arrow to her crossbow as Phi placed a hand on her katana. **SWOOSH! **The second the ringleader fired her arrow, Phinimbly dodged it and charged towards her opponent. Soon, most of the crowd found out where the ringleader was due to the sounds of battle, and cheered the two warriors on their fight as they stared up.

The ringleader unsheathed her chained daggers and began striking at Phi as she dodged them. Phi knocked back the ringleader with a few blows that were deflected and turned to her group down below. "Don't worry about me! Concentrate on the monsters you're fighting!"

"Demonic Chaos!" yelled both Jude and Alvin, performing both a Demon Fist and Demon Fang together before finishing off their opponent with a simultaneous shock-wave finisher.

"Flare Tornado!" cried Milla and Leia. Leia started casting fire from her palms and surrounded Milla while she runs and expands it by sending a monster up into the air and slicing it as she spin around, creating an effective twister of flare.

"Healer!" shouted Jude, pressing his palms together to form an energized circle of healing. It not only healed his wounds, but Alvin's wounds since he was close by.

"Thanks, kid," said Alvin before taking out the arrow implanted on his shoulder. He looked up just in time to see the ringleader jump into the air and behind Phi. Before Phi could do anything, the ringleader began strangling Phi with her chains.

Then, Phi quickly leaped and pressed her feet against the ringleader's legs, causing the ringleader to drop her. Swiftly, Phi formed a palm hand and chopped the ringleader's neck, knocking her out. Phi looked down to see Alvin and Jude looking up at her. It seems that Alvin had his gun ready, and that he was going to assist Phi, but it looked like she didn't need help.

Pressing the ringleader's weight against hers, she placed the unconscious ringleader's arm around her shoulder before glancing to see Rowen having a bit of trouble trying to defeat a troublesome peacock monster.

"Eagle Dive!" With powerful force, Phi shot towards the peacock monster's head with her foot before landing safely and dropping the unconscious ringleader.

As soon as the ringleader and her monsters were dragged off, there was the third match, which their opponents were a lance-user and three green bird-like creatures. "I'll...take on the leader..." panted Leia, obviously tired.

"No, you're too tired. I'll take him on," assured Milla, stepping forward. "Let's go!"

Phi was the next to run forward...and also the first to take down one of the bird monsters in this match. "Come on, people! Let's hurry up and defeat these three monsters!" she called, her foot implanted in the bird's wing as the bird monster was lying facedown, buried in the ground, defeated.

"But...you already took one down," pointed out Jude as Alvin and Rowen rushed forward.

"Dark Radiance!" cried Alvin, leaping high in the air and bring his sword down on a bird who was flying in the air. Yet, that wasn't enough to take it down as it started attacking Alvin.

"Marche Waltz!" shouted Rowen, stabbing another bird monster several times. Elize and Leia were busy casting supportive artes, but were occasionally attacked by bird monsters.

Just when a bird monster was about to peck Elize's head, Phi charged in and grabbed the foot before swinging it back and forth and throwing it at the sky as high as she could, making that monster disappear like she did to the other one yesterday.

"Home run!" cheered Alvin, playing around.

"Wind of the mighty, carve through the wicked! Cyclone!" chanted Milla. A tornado swirled and formed around the lance-user, lifting him high and high until it dispersed, knocking him out when he hit the ground.

"Whew! That sure was tiring!" panted Jude, sitting on the ground as Milla was also struggling to stand up. Leia was on the ground, all dizzy as Elize was fanning. Alvin, Rowen, and Phi were the only ones not looking tired.

**"And there you have it, folks! The Kitarl champions have fought their way to the place in the finals!" **

* * *

As the party was walking down the stairs and out of the arena, Leia cheered, "We did it! We won!"

"It nearly went the other way, though," reminded Jude.

"Come on, that was a cinch," said Alvin.

"I beg to differ. Those matches were quite demanding," wheezed Rowen.

"Our little buddy Alvin's a big fat liar, isn't he, Elly?" wondered Teepo.

"Yes. It wasn't easy at all."

"Aw, come on, guys!" complained Alvin, acting a little bit hurt.

Once arriving down the stairs, Yurgen and his friends greeted them. "Nice work out there! Those were some fascinating fights!" said Yurgen.

"The finals begin after lunch," informed one of Yurgen's friends. "All the other entrants will be there too, though, so don't expect cherry company. Anyway, you better grab some food."

_'What was it I was supposed to do? It had something to do about food, but what?' _wondered Phi as she followed the others to the dining room.

At the dining room, the food was prepared and set for everyone in there. Only a few had already started eating. Jude was looking around, trying to determine who their opponents will be. Phi heard Jude and Alvin talking, and then Yurgen, but she paid no heed to them and concentrated on trying to remember something important.

Phi glanced around, and saw one man's expression change into curiosity and then he looked like he was gasping for air as he was trying to grab a glass of water. Phi then realized that poison was in the food, for Milla!

"Wait! Don't touch the food!" yelled Phi loud enough for everyone in the dining room to hear. Everyone was silent and didn't move. When some others tried to ignore her and staretd to eat, all it took was one scary look from her to make them stop completely.

"Why?" asked Alvin, who was about to shove a mouthful of it in his mouth. Phi rushed towards him and yanked the spoon off his hand as fast as she could. Her expression looked like she was desperate and scared, making the others worried. This was the first time anyone's seen Phi look like that.

"Hey, what's going on?" asked Jude.

Just then, one of Yurgen's friends rushed into the dining room and said, "Yurgen, we've got a problem. Turns out that rockfall was no accident. They found signs that someone destroyed the cliff intentionally."

"What?!" exclaimed Milla, standing up. "Nobody move! Whatever happens, don't-"

**CRASH! **Then, a few of the people in the dining room, most likely the ones who ate the food, fell to the ground. Some of the people screamed out of fear as the others ran towards the fallen bodies and tried to shake them.

Jude and Rowen began examining the body of a man's and found some sort of purple odor in his mouth. "Do you detect that faint odor?" asked Rowen. "Yes, I know of this. It's metecinia, a poison dissolved in liquid."

"Are you serious? Why would anyone do this?" asked Jude.

_'Damn! If only I remembered sooner! Well, at least only a few died-no, what am I saying?!' _thought Phi, frustrated with herself. She ran up to Yurgen and asked, "Hey! Where's the kitchen?!"

"The kitchen? It's up in the stairs, then go to the far left of the end, and you'll see some doors that lead to the kitchen. Why are you asking me this?"

"Damn...Look, forget about that!" ordered Phi. "Alvin, you're with me! Let's go!" She ran up to him, grabbed his sleeve, and forced him up.

"R-right!" Both Alvin and Phi took off towards the direction Yurgen told Phi.

"Wait! Alvin! Phi!" called Milla. But either both of them were too faraway to hear her, or they were just ignoring her.

Once arriving at the kitchen's entrance, Phi turned to Alvin and ordered, "Alright, Alvin. I'll go ahead first. You just cover me with your gun."

"What if the one who poisoned the food isn't there?" asked Alvin.

"Just leave the 'what ifs' for later! We don't have time for this! Ready? 1...2...3! NOW!" Phi burst opened the doors and saw one man putting on a weird black suit. There was no one around except for him.

"Hey, who are you?" asked Alvin. Phi noticed that the man was hiding something behind his back and grew suspicious.

"Show us what's behind your back," ordered Phi, getting straight to the point. When the man didn't move, Ph and Alvin grew more suspicious. "Is something wrong? Just show it to us!"

"Why do I have to do what you tell me to?" questioned the man rudely. "Besides, you shouldn't be here! This is for cooks only!"

_'With that suit on, I doubt it,' _Phi wanted to say. "Just show us what's behind your back!" ordered Alvin, ready to get his gun out.

"No! You don't get to order me around! I have rights!" As he spoke, the man made a break towards the exit.

"No! Stop!" shouted Phi, rushing towards him with Alvin on her side. Alvin stood in the man's way on time, and Phi tackled the man to the ground, then wrapped her hand around his wrist, slamming it to the floor and causing him to drop something.

Alvin picked it up and read the label of the bottle. "Metec...cinia...Metecinia."

"I knew it!" said Phi, both relieved and angry at the same time. "That means..."

"Let me go! Get off of my, you fuckers!" cursed the man, struggling to break free.

"You...you were the one who poisoned and killed those people in the dining room," said Phi.

"No! You don't understand! This is all some kind of...of a mistake!" shouted the man, desperate.

"We've got you, mister! You may as well confess!" grunted Phi, still trying to keep him down. "Alvin! Keep your gun aimed at him just in case he tries to do something!"

"On it!" agreed Alvin, taking out his gun and pointing it at the man while standing up.

"...Urgh...Alright, fine! You caught me! I did it! I killed all those who ate the poisoned food!"

"Why?!" asked Phi.

"I was sent here to...to do something!"

"To do what, exactly?! And who gave you these orders to just poison people?!" asked Phi, getting more and more angry.

"I'll _die _before I tell you."

"So your orders were more important those few, but very precious lives?!" shouted Phi, ready to beat up the man. "And the other competitor's lives?!"

"Whoa, whoa! Let's not get ahead of ourselves!" said the man. "I only poisoned the food that was serving in the dining room where Maxwell was, but that's it! I didn't poison the food where they were serving the other competitors in the other dining rooms!"

"What? Really?"

"Try carefully, Phi. This man's not to be trusted. He's also shown to lie and kill," warned Alvin.

"Hey, come on! I'm telling the truth! You've gotta believe me!"

"Even if we do believe you, you're still a killer," reminded Phi, now calm. "Now, who ordered you to do all of this?"

"That's none of your damn business."

Wrong answer. Out of anger, Phi started twisting one of the man's arms behind his back, making a sickeningly painful sound and even making Alvin winch as if he was the one in pain.

The man screamed, "Fuck! Stop! You're gonna break it!"

"Of course! That's the idea!" told Phi, twisting more and more of the man's arm.

"Uh...Phi?" questioned Alvin cautiously. "What are you-"

"Shut up!" snapped Phi, obviously not in the mood as Alvin held his hands up, meaning no harm.

"Please, stop!" begged the man.

"Just tell me what I want to know!" With that said, Phi began pressing more strength, and if she kept this up, she might do more than break his arm. Possibly rip it off.

_'Man, I feel almost sorry for that guy. Well, almost,' _thought Alvin.

"Okay! Okay, I'll tell you! The info's in my coat! My pocket!"

"Alvin, check it out!" ordered Phi.

"Y-yeah!" Alvin bent down and started digging through the man's pockets. After a few minutes, he said, "It's no use! I can't find anything anywhere!"

"Did you lie to me?!" yelled Phi to the man, threatning to continue more of his painful torture.

"No! I swear! Keep looking!"

"Wait, I do feel something," said Alvin, digging further and further into the pockets. He then pulled out some sort of strange pill. "Hey, what is this?"

"Huh? I can't see it. Bring it over here," gasped the man. Alvin frowned and moved closer to the man, holding the pill out towards him. Suddenly, the man moved, and he used his free hand to grab the pill from Alvin. Before anyone could react, he shoved it in his mouth and bit on it.

"Shit! How could I have been so stupid?!" cursed Phi to herself as the man started acting like he was choking, leaving Alvin confused. Phi grabbed him by the hair and shook. "What the hell are you doing?! Hurry up and tell us who you work for!"

"N-never..." coughed out the man. His eyes rolled up into his head, and flecks of spittle began to trickle out of his mouth.

"Don't screw with us!" Phi delivered a punch to the man's face, but it was already too late. The man was dead. "Shit!" Phi got up and slammed her foot against one of the food lockers in the kitchen, her face uncharacteristically twisted by anger and frustration.

"W-what was that he took?" asked Alvin.

"...Poison, I guess," said Phi, finally calming down. 'This is bad...what are we going to do?"

"...You think we should, you know, head back?" asked Alvin. "I mean, I was planning not to go, but-"

"What, you worried there might be ghosts back in the dining room?" questioned Phi, almost in a joking tone.

"No, of course not. It's just...doesn't the lives of those innocent people bother you?"

"Nope. I don't believe in ghosts. I feel bad that they died, of course. But, there's not really anything we can do about that, is there? Just be grateful only a few lives were claimed."

"Damn, you're pretty cold, you know that?" questioned Alvin.

"I perfer bold, but whatever. I just don't let emotions get in the way."

"That's...pretty much the definition of 'cold.'"

"...Whatever. Anyways, you said there was somewhere where you wanted to be, right? Where's that?"

"Well, I wanted to go back to my mom's, but-"

"It's fine. We can discuss some...things there. And then, we can go back and tell the others. We'll leave this man's dead body here. Someone will find out he poisoned himself," said Phi. "Just lead the way. I don't know your mom. Only you do."

'Right," agreed Alvin before he and Phi left.

* * *

Skit: Favorite Pets

"I can't believe they seriously keep monsters as pets," said Alvin. "Auj Oule sure is weird."

"I'd rather have a nice pet, like a dog," said Jude.

"Oh, so you're a dog person? So am I," said Rowen, impressed.

"Same here! They're way funner to be around!" said Leia.

"Oh, come on. Cat beat dog anyday. You dog types are just emotionally needy," said Alvin.

"Nowadays it's the cat types who are needy," argued Rowen. "You put on fake cat ears and cat tails, saying 'meow' every other word. Absolutely ridiculous."

"What are you-who does that?" argued Alvin, surprised. "True cat lovers admire ctas for their independence! What about you, Elize? I bet you're a cat person."

"I always wanted to have a pink rapig," said Elize.

"But I thought you were a Teepo person!" complained Teepo.

"What about you, Milla? What's your favorite kind of animal?" asked Jude.

"You should know by now. It's you humans."

'Humans aren't really animals, Milla," informed Phi.

"Oh? Then, you're a cat person?" asked Alvin.

"No, I'm a dog person. So far, that makes...four votes against one. Looks like dog does beats cat," said Phi. "Besides, dogs are usually the ones chasing away cats."

"She has a point," agreed Rowen.

"Oh, come on!" complained Alvin.

* * *

Skit: Solution

"Hmm..." wondered Milla, examining a wanted poster of her.

"What's that?" asked Phi.

"It's a wanted poster of Milla. It's a long story," said Jude. "Wait, Milla? You tore it down?"

"Of course. Now, we won't have to worry about people chasing us."

"That'll never work. Keep tearing them down, and they'll post a new one right back up," said Alvin.

"I wonder..." Phi walked towards the board where they kept the posters. When she saw no one was looking besides Alvin, Jude, and Milla, she placed her hand forward towards the board and started firing fireballs, surprising her friends and burning down the board. Then, when it was on the ground, she began stomping and jumping up and down on it.

"Did-did you just tear down the entire board?!" exclaimed Jude.

"Yes. I figured that if there's something keeping the posters up, then we just have to burn down the pilllar holding it," said Phi.

"I see. I'll have to use that for next time," said Milla.

"No! Don't even think about it!" screeched Jude.

* * *

**Whew! This is one of the longest chapters I created, but I'm finished!**


	8. Abandoned Memories

**And this is one of my most favorite, yet angsty chapters yet! So, I'm done talking, and I'll let you all read this, though it might be confusing, but don't expect answers from me since it will be interesting! **

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Tales of Xillia, only the OCs! **

* * *

"And here we are, home sweet home," said Alvin after he and Phi entered Alvin's house. It was nice and cozy, and there was plenty of room inside. In another small room, laid an old woman, who was sleeping peacefully in a bed.

"Is this your mother?" asked Phi.

"Yeah," said Alvin. "Alfred is doing alright at boarding school. He told me to give you a message and that he loves you."

_'Alfred? Who's that?' _wondered Phi, crossing her arms in confusion. "Ah, I see,' said the old woman, sounding relieved. "It's good to hear him. I hope he's making lots of friends in boarding school. I worry for him sometimes."

"He worries about you too," said Alvin. He turned to Phi, who looked very confused on who 'Afread' was. "Oh, and Alfred? That's..." Alvin pointed himself, and Phi immediantly got the message that Alfred is Alvin's real name.

"Yeah, so don't worry, miss. Alfred's going to be alright," said Phi. "Why don't you get more sleep? Im sure you would want to greet Alfred all healthy and stuff."

"Yes, you're right," agreed Alvin's mother before turning her head to face the wall. Soon, Alvin and Phi could hear soft snoring from Alvin's mother.

Phi wouldn't admit it, but she was jealous of Alvin. After all, he has a loving and kind mother, but she doesn't. Well, it's not that her own real mother, Milla, wasn't rude or abusive towards her, it's just that Phi rarely sees her. The last time she saw her in her time was when she was five, but that was a long time ago.

"...Alvin. We need to talk. Now," said Phi firmly.

"Something up?" asked Alvin.

"..." Phi was trying to find a way to get Alvin to admit he's part of Exodus without suspecting herself. If Alvin does suspect her, it's going to be worse in the future, so she has to choose her words carefully.

"Um...Phi? You there?"

"What's Exodus?" decided Phi, turning to Alvin.

"Exodus? How should I know? And where did that come from?"

"Before that man...before that man disappeared from this world, he whispered something. I couldn't make out all of the words, but I did hear one word. Exodus. That's not a very common word, so I figured you as a mercenary, should know about this," lied Phi.

"Sorry kiddo, don't know anything," said Alvin, placing his hands behind his head.

"Hmm...alright, I give up," said Phi.

"What? You're not going to ask me more about Exodus or something?" joked Alvin.

Phi smiled. She found the small weak point she was trying to find. "Alvin, you just admitted you know about Exodus."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"You said clearly, 'What? You're not going to ask me more about Exodus or something?' I said I was giving up. I never expected you to ask if I wanted to know MORE. You do know something, do you Alvin?" questioned Phi.

"...Damn. Me and my big mouth," said Alvin, cursing a bit. "Alright. You got me. I know about Exodus, so what? Just because I heard the name doesn't mean I'm a member of them."

"I didn't say anything about you being a member of Exodus," reminded Phi, wanting to grin.

Alvin mentally facepalmed. He let out a long sigh. "Alright, fine. I'm a member of Exodus. But I only do small jobs for them, nothing more."

"Did you know about the poison?" asked Phi.

"Of course not! I almost ate some of that food, you know. So, what are you going to do? Tattle on Milla and the others?"

"No," said Phi, walking past Alvin.

"Wait, what?" Alvin asked, surprised. "Why not?"

"Because, you'll be the one telling them," replied Phi, her back turned to Alvin.

"And what makes you think I'll tell them that?' challenged Alvin.

"Oh, but you will, I assure you," said Phi. "Now, if you don't mind, we should go back to the others. I think we wasted enough time here."

"..." Alvin didn't say anything but nod. He was still confused by what Phi meant, but shrugged it off. It didn't seem anything important, at the very least.

Once outside, both of them were surprised to see Milla at the front door. "Where'd you come from?" asked Alvin, taken aback.

"Is this your house?" asked Milla.

"...Mom's, actually. Look, I'm sorry both of us darted off like that. We were about to head back towards the inn anyways."

Just when Alvin was about to walk past Milla, Milla suddenly pushed him back against the wall using his tie while Phi watched in shock. _'This is so wrong in so many ways! I'd understand if it was with Jude, but Alvin?!' _

"Aren't we frisky today," grunted Alvin, teasing a bit.

"Tell me what you know about Exodus," demanded Milla.

"Exodus? That some kind of new music group?" asked Alvin, trying not to make the same mistake like he did with Phi.

"I heard you talking with Derrick back in Leronde."

"You were faking it? That's cheating, you know.

"You're one to talk," countered Milla, pushing Alvin more up against the wall. "Answer the question. Are you a member of Exodus?"

"Give me a break. I hate those jerks as much as you do. They've blackmailed me into working for them. I want out, but I'm stck."

Milla seems to relized what the reason was for and released Alvin before stepping back. "Because of your mother?"

"You believe me?"

"...Well, to paraphrase Teepo, you are a big fat liar," admitted Milla.

"The spud's got that right. No point in roughing me up for answers," said Alvin, smirking as he crossed his arms. "Because you can't trust anything I say."

Milla turned to Phi and asked, "Did you know about this?"

"I just found out a few minutes ago," replied Phi. "Anyways, we don't have time to talk about this. We have to go back with Jude and the others. They're probably back in the arena entrance."

"Why?" asked Alvin.

"We don't know if any Exodus agents are trailing after Milla right now as we speak. If we stay here any longer, we're screwed. So-" She stopped in midsentence when Milla pulled out her sword and pointed it at her. "W-what are you doing?"

"You're pretty suspicious, too, Phi," said Milla. "You could be an Exodus spy for all we know. Plus, I never trusted you from the very beginning. I sense a strange power inside of you, yet you keep denying it. I don't trust you. Why do you have some kind of spirit power inside of you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" said Phi, agitated.

"You're hiding something," said Alvin, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall. "Yeah...you've been suspicious from the get-go. How'd you know the food was poisonous? Or when those people were about to eat the food? You didn't even blink when the people died. Almost as if you knew the food was poisonous and that those people were going to die. Look, I don't want to believe it, but are you...?"

"...Don't be stupid," said Phi. "Why would I poison those guys? Besides, we already found out who the true culprit was. You were there, too. Also, just because I had some sort of spirit power inside of me doesn't make me a spirit, Milla! Plus, I'm not part of Exodus! There was-"

"Tell the truth!" demanded Milla, her sword pressing against Phi's chest, ready to strike her heart if neccessary.

"That _is _the truth! Why am I the only one getting the most third-degree here?! I'd very much appreciate it if you could not treat me like I'm the villain here."

"You don't have any right to say that right now," replied Milla coldly. "If you don't answer me right now, I'll kill you here, right now."

Suddenly, Phi grasped the sharp blade of Milla and clutched it so tightly, the sword began to shake, and blood started pouring from the gash she just received on the hand where it was holding the sword. Phi stared at Milla with cold eyes of hatred under her bangs, as if challenging her. Truth is, she was expressing some of her hatred from her real deceased mother towards Milla, as if she wanted to punish her by just staring at her.

Milla and Alvin were only astonished. They knew Phi was strong-willed, but they didn't think she had guts to try to stand up against Milla or try to hold the sword threatning to take her life. Phi moved the sword so that it would target only her heart.

"Do what you have to do," replied Phi coldly. "If you're going to cut me down for speaking the truth, then do it. But, know this. If you cut me down, you'll only regret it and you'll be killing the wrong person. Is that going to be your way of protecting both mankind and spirit?"

Milla only gritted her teeth. Something in her soul was telling her not to kill this person. Truth be told, she never intended on killing Phi in the first place, only threaten her. But, Phi was standing there, holding her sword towards her own heart, and telling Milla to kill her. Milla has never met a person with such passion, but even so, she doesn't trust Phi. But, something tells her she should.

Just then, something caught the corner of Phi's eye and she turned to see something shining at the other side of town, which wasn't that far. Phi saw an archer, and he was targeting Milla.

"Watch out!" yelled Phi, moving the sword out of the way and pushing Milla backwards. **SWOOSH! THUD! **Phi felt a sharp pain implanted in her back, then craned her head to see an arrow impaled really deep.

Milla and Alvin turned to where the arrow had come from and saw an archer. Alvin got out his gun and shot the archer on plain sight, killing him instantly before the archer had a chance to run away.

"Gh-!" Phi pulled out the arrow and threw it away before falling to her knees, clutching her wounded shoulder.

Milla picked up the arrow and examined the end of it. "It was poisoned," she announced. "I recognized this kind of poison. It's a deadly poison that slowly kills the victim painfully. This is bad."

"Poison?" gasped Phi, panting. She could feel an immense pain pouring throughout her body, and sweat was falling down from her forehead. With a grunt, she pushed herself to stand up. "Alright, stay calm, the both of you. I'll be fine, but we have to go back with Jude and the others. They'll probably-"

**RING! RING! **Suddenly, the bell at the tournament started ringing, signaling the other competitors to fight. "The tournament? If we don't hurry, we'll be disqualified," reminded Milla.

"Alright, get on my back, kiddo," ordered Alvin, kneeling down.

"I can't do that," said Phi. "I told you, I'll be fine. Besides, we do need a marksman in case someone tries to target Milla again. Let's hurry!"

Once at the coliseum, Alvin, Phi, and Milla found Jude and the others waiting for them. "Where have you guys been? We were worried sick!" said Jude. "Next time you guys storm off, tell us where you're going first."

"Sorry about that," said Milla.

"Oh, thank the spirits you're alright!" called Yurgen as he and his friends came over. "The tournament commitee suddenly voted to hold the finals. And they've decided to revert the late king's rules. A fight to the death."

'What?! That's crazy!" exclaimed Leia.

"I also didn't mention it before, but the old rules also mandate that fights be one-on-one," revealed Yurgen.

"What'll we do?" asked Jude.

"Well, we still need those wyverns, so forfeiting is not an option. But this is still very peculiar," said Milla.

"Why would they revert to an older set of rules?" pondered Rowen.

"Wake up and smell the poisoned coffee, kids. It's pretty obvious this is a plot made by Exodus, the people trying to snuff you out," explained Alvin.

"Hold on! How do you know those meanies?" asked Teepo.

"Is it okay for you to say this?" questioned Milla, sounding a bit concerned.

"...My way of thanking you," replied Alvin.

"What are you talking about?" asked Jude, confused.

"Alvin is working for Exodus," said Milla.

Everyone went wide-eyed when they heard that. "What?! You're kidding me, right?!"

"I wish I was. They've been making me do odd jobs for them," said Alvin.

"Wait," started Jude. "Don't tell me the poison was-"

"That wasn't me! I almost choked down some of that stuff too, you know. I work for them, sure. But it was always small-fry stuff."

"He's right," said Phi, trying so hard not to show any weakness. "Me and Alvin...ran into the kitchen when we saw the food was poisoned. There, we saw only one man, and interrogated him. He had a bottle of meticinia, the poison that killed those people. We didn't get much out of him, and he tricked us and killed himself with a poisonous pill."

"So that's what the remains of that pill at his mouth were," said Yurgen. "We discovered a dead man in the kitchen and investigated him. We didn't expect him to commit suicide, though."

"Just tell me one more thing. Can you promise you'll never work for them again?" asked Jude to Alvin.

"Yes. You have my word."

"Were you privy to Exodus's plans?" asked Rowen.

"Uh, yeah. I mean, I heard some things. They hoped to change some rules for the finals and use it to kill Milla. Even if Milla wins, they have a backup plan. They figured she'll be worn out, easy pickings for their snipers in the cheap seats."

"How dare they stain our tournament with their foul tricks! This is an outrage!" shouted Yurgen, obviously mad.

"Heh, their plan is a house of cards," chuckled Milla. "If any of you fights as a champion in my stead, the whole thing collapses. Still, I'll take their bait. Anything to dragon them out of hiding."

"Are you nuts? Why?" asked Alvin, surprised.

_'No, something's not right. I remembered that Exodus wasn't after Milla this time, but what?' _thought Phi, her breathing growing shorter and shorter by the second. _'Damn poison isn't keeping my head straight-!' _

"It is far too dangerous. I cannot allow you to risk your life just to bait Exodus into the open," opposed Rowen.

"Yeah! It's too dangerous!" agreed Leia.

"Milla's going to die!" cried Teepo.

"It seems Jude agrees with me, at least," said Milla, turning to the honors student, who was thinking very carefully.

"You want us to take care of the Exodus agents in the stands, right?" said Jude.

"Exactly."

'Are you serious?" asked Leia.

"Normally, we have no way of knowing when Exodus will strike. But now, we have a time and place. It's a logical plan."

"If we don't strike now, they'll slip away and find time to prepare a new plan," added Milla. "There's no guarantee that one won't be more devastating."

"You're really going to enter?" asked Yurgen.

"The pride of your clan is on the line, is it? We both get what we want," reasoned Milla.

"Very well. So, we're left with no choice but to ensure everything goes well," decided Rowen. "Your strategy must succeed."

Phi's vision suddenly blurred, and shaking her head did nothing to stop it. She staggered back a bit. Jude noticed and asked, "Hey, are you alright?" However, what Jude was saying made no sense to her at the moment.

Alvin realized why Phi was acting strange and ran towards her side. "Shit! How could I have forgot! Hey! Phi! Stay with us!"

"What's going on?" asked Leia.

"Phi got hit by a poisonous arrow that was heading straight towards me! She saved my life!" explained Milla. "We need a doctor, and fast!"

"Hold on!" said Yurgen as he and his friends ran to go get one.

"Milla...just go to the tournament now," gasped Phi, her body shaking like a leaf as she tried to use every ounce of strength she had to resist the poison.

"My match doesn't start until a few more minutes," answered Milla as Leia and Elize started casting healing spells on Phi.

Just then, a few doctors along with Yurgen and his friends arrived at the scene. "Hurry! There's a treatment room over there!" one of the doctors cried out. Alvin and Jude helped carry Phi and laid her in the bed of the treatment room.

After a few minutes of examining her, one of the doctors said, "Your friend's going to be fine. We're going to inject her with an antidote that'll cure the poison, but it does have one major side effect."

'What's that?" asked Leia.

"It'll...cause her to have nightmares and wake up in a few days. Don't worry, though. Luckily, it's only one side effect."

"I sure hope Phi will be alright," mumbled Jude as one of the nurses started removing Phi's long arm bands to place the injector on Phi's arm and get her comfortable. However, everyone wasn't expecting to see long, worn-out ragged scars all over Phi's arms and hands.

"W-what?!" cried Elize, terrified to see so many scars on Phi's arms.

"Okay, everyone, please go out. This isn't something someone should see," ordered the doctor.

Once out of the room, Jude and the others were seriously worried about Phi. "Just where did those scars come from?" wondered Jude.

"Poor Phi must have been through a lot," said Leia. "I wonder who did all that. So that must be why Phi never takes off those arm bands. She didn't want us to see her scars."

"I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think Phi is our prior concern right now. The doctors will take care of her, so we should focus on the tournament," reminded Milla. "We'll check up on Phi later."

Meanwhile, after the doctors have left after giving Phi the medicine, Phi was getting drowsy and more drowsy every second until she finally fell asleep. Needless to say, this sleep was the worst sleep of her entire life.

* * *

_In Phi's time, or rather, Sophia's time, it showed she was five years old at the time. Ever since she was born, she was given a gift from her mother, Milla. Her gift was the Four Great Spirits, assigned to protect her. Of course, they sometimes can't be with her because Milla summons them on her side sometimes. But most of the time, they keep five-year-old Sophia entertained. _

_Sophia wasn't always cold-hearted, matured, and quiet. Back then, she was cheerfully, and more kind-hearted than she was today. Her father, Jude Mathis, was always at work, and she rarely got to see him. She had a nice babysister who was Jude's friend back in medical school taking care of her. Sophia__ loved the Four Great Spirits. She liked playing games and having races with Sylph, always winning them even though Sylph let her. Gnome was cute to Sophia and she often dressed him in one of the cute dresses she had, much to the Four-or Three Great Spirits delight. Undine was a great tutor on knowledge and let Sophia know things like math and other difficult things in school. That caused Sophia to be one of the smartest students in school. Efreet was a great teacher in training, and helped Sophia control her spirit artes and taught her martial artes from martial artes scrolls, which caused her to be one of the greatest fighters in school._

_Lots of kids befriended Sophia for her kindness and several boys had crushes on her. There was only one person Sophia could call as a best friend, and her name was Mia. She was shy, but she played with Sophia often and came to her house sometimes. Of course, the students at her school know Sophia could control the Four Great Spirits, and they still befriended her._

_But, one day, the Dark Spirits appeared, and they nearly destroyed Fenmont, the city where Sophia was living. Luckily, the people weren't killed, but there was many injured, and people had to put up some barriers to protect the city. Ever since the Dark Spirits arrived, the students were ignoring Phi, often bulling her when the teachers weren't looking. Heck, even the classmates in Sophia's class pushed all their desks to the edge of the classroom, leaving Sophia plenty of space and the only person who's desk was in the middle of the classroom. And this happened every. Single. Day._

_"Shut up, monster!" yelled one of the Sophia's classmates one day. Many classmates of Sophia's were gathered right in front of Sophia outside of the school right after school started. They started calling her a monster, but no matter how many times Sophia tried to deny it, they kept insulting her. _

_"I'm-I'm not a monster!" cried back Sophia._

_"Liar! My dad's leg got eaten by those dark monsters called Dark Spirits! You probably brought all of those Dark Spirits in Fenmont! You have the Four Great Spirits, so that means you attracted them! You injured so many people!" one of the classmates shouted._

_"You're wrong! It wasn't me! I'm human!" _

_"That's gross! Don't even pretend to be a human when you're only-half!"_

_"I am a human!"_

_"Shut up, you monster!"_

_"I am a human!"_

_"Shut up!" Out of anger, one of the classmates pushed Sophia to the ground, causing Sophia to have a scrap on her knee. _

_"I...I'm not..." sobbed Sophia, tears coming out of her eyes. Then, she spotted her best friend, Mia in the crowd, looking terrified. Sophia started crying out of happiness and reaching out her hand towards her. "Mia! Mia!"_

_Then, biting her lower lip, Mia turned away and started walking away, farther and farther from the shocked and broken Phi. Soon, everyone else left Sophia alone, and Sophia just sat on the ground, shocked that her one and only best friend, had betrayed her._

_As soon as everyone left, the Four Great Spirits appeared around Sophia and looked concerned. "Sophia...? Are you alright?" asked Gnome._

_"..I'm fine! Don't worry!" said Sophia cheerfully, letting out a grin as she stood up and wiped the dust off her skirt. "Let's go home! Aunty's waiting back home with delicious snacks! Plus, we can play! I have no homework, so today's going to be fine!"_

_Just before Sophia could move, Gnome asked an innocent, but heart-breaking question. "Sophia, why do you smile when there are tears?"_

* * *

_It's been a few months since the Dark Spirit invasion in Fenmont, and things were not looking good for Sophia Every day's been the same. Go to school. Everyone ignorning you. After school, people start beating you up. Return home. Do homework. Play with the Four Great Spirits and be 'happy.' And then, bedtime._

_Unfortunely, ever since Dark Spirits have appeared, Milla's been needing the Four Great Spirits a lot often, and it took a while for the Four Great Spirits to return to Fenmont where Sophia was. Also, Jude's been sent on investigation missions on the Dark Spirits since he is a famous doctor/scientist, so he's never home. The only one taking care of her is her aunty, her babysister._

_One day, it was the best and worst day of Sophia's life. Her three-year old cousin, Florian, was coming for a visit in Fenmont to see her! That means she'll also see her uncle and aunt for the first time! She was told by her father that her uncle and aunt were king and queen of Auj Oule, so that got Sophia excited._

_However, a few hours after they arrived, instead of Dark Spirits, strange men in black uniforms started invading the city, Fenmont, killing anyone in their way. They seems to be snatching up children for some apparent reason, so Gaius and Muzet, Sophia's uncle and aunt, told Sophia and Florian to hide in Fenmont while they and other soldiers held them off. _

_"This way! This way!" cried Sophia, panting as they went into an alleyway. _

_"Wait...wait..." panted Florian. He and Sophia were running too fast, and he needed to catch his breath. _

_"There's no time!" said Sophia, grabbing his hand. "We have to hurry!"_

_"Hey! I hear voices coming this way!" called a man's voice. Sophia started panicking, but was relieved when she saw a large trash bin nearby. Both she and Florian started climbing up the trash bin, but Florian was too short, so when Sophia got to the top, she grabbed Florian's hand and helped him up. Then, she opened the trash bin and helped Florian down._

_"Sophia! What are you doing?! Hurry!" said Florian._

_"No, if we both hide in here, they'll find us in no time. I'll be the bait, so stay safe, okay? And don't leave the trash until you think it's really safe." requested Sophia before closing the bin. Sophia jumped off the trash bin in time to get spotted by some men in black uniforms._

_"Hey! I spot a kid here!" one of them cried. Sophia started running the other way as fast as her feet could take her. She didn't have the Four Great Spirits to defend herself with, so she was utterly defenceless. It didn't take very long for the strange men to capture her quickly and knock her out._

* * *

_When Sophia awoke, she was in an empty room with only one light one. Surrounding her were a few kids, either asleep or crying. She looked around and saw bars trapping them. It seems they were in a jail cell, but what for?_

_Trying to be brave and putting on a strong face, she shouted, "Hey! What's going on?! Let us out!"_

_Just then, one of the guards entered the jail cell, startling some of the kids in the jail cell. "Brats, wake up! All fo you! If you don't in five minutes, the ones still sleeping will be dead!'_

_After he left, the kids tried to wake up the sleeping kids, desperately trying to save their lives. About five minutes later, the man came back, and every kid was awake except for one boy, who was coughing._

_"Alright, pay attention, maggots, because I'm only going to say this once," announced the guard loudly. "We are the ones who have brought you here to help save the world. We are the new group called Exodus! You all have potential mana lobes, so we are going to use your mana and store it all up in one big machine to get rid of the Dark Spirits! The monsters that are killing your friends and family! You all want that, do you? To get rid of those monsters hurting the people you love?"_

_Immediantly, everyone nodded out of fear. "Good. Every day, we'll be picking you up one by one and testing you. We'll absorb almost all of your mana, then leave you in the jail cell so that you can rest and restore your mana lobes. You will follow every command we give you! And if you refuse..."_

_The man pulled out a gun and shot at the sleeping, coughing boy, putting him to rest. The kids in the jail cell screamed, some saying, "You killed him! How could you?!"_

_**BANG! **The man fired at the ceiling, making the kids to stop wailing. "That will happen if you refuse. Now, we'll start with one of you as part of testing! You, girl! Come with me!"_

_The man motioned Sophia to come, and Sophia, who was now terrified, was forced to follow him. Soon, they arrived in a strange room with a few scientists in there as well. Phi was forced to be chained up a wall, unable to move. She saw that the chains were attached to a strange contraption._

_"W-what are you doing to do with me?!" cried Sophia, struggling to get free. _

_One of the doctors explained, "There's no use trying to get free. We're only going to absorb your mana. Then, we'll put you back in your cell where you can chat with the other kids. It's only hurt a little. Your mana will be absorbed in this machine, which will be stored up for a huge blast to get rid of the Dark Spirits. So, don't worry."_

_Before Sophia could say something, she felt an electrical shock run through her body and screamed in pain. Finally, for what it seems like hours, the pain stopped, and she was left breathless._

_The doctors, however, were shocked. One of them cried, "Normally, when one's mana is absorbed, they're left unconscious! She's still awake! And she still has mana left! But we absorbed a huge amount of mana!"_

_Unfortunely, Sophia's torture wasn't done, and she kept screaming as the doctors absorbed more and more of Sophia's mana. "Mommy! Daddy!" she screamed, tears running down her cheeks. _

_However, her Mommy and Daddy never came to rescue her. In fact, this was indeed the worst day ever, and this was just day one of Sophia's torture._

* * *

_It's been a few months since Sophia and the kids were kidnapped, and many were worse every single day. Their regular schedule was to get absorbed, rest in the jail cell, eat plenty, and sleep. However, it was torture for everyone, especially Sophia. She was the only one who had the highest mana level considering she is a half-spirit._

_Every day, the experiments and absorbing process grew worse and worse for Sophia. She tried her best to be cheerful, but she failed miserable. Whenever she tries to disobey orders, she didn't get killed. No, she got whipped so many times, she had countless scars on her legs and arms._

_One day, Sophia was strapped to a table, terrified on what was going to happen to her. A doctor came up, and explained, "Don't worry. We're going to put a special item inside of you. It's called an Enhancer."_

_"What's that?"_

_"An Enhancer is a special, advanced version of a booster, only it doesn't take a person's life-span away, and it increases a person's mana abilities, depending. So, don't worry about a thing. You are very special."_

_"W-what?!" When the operation had started, Sophia could only scream as the doctors did...grunesome things to her body as they tried to force the Enhancer inside her small body. Sophia only closed her eyes and tried to imagine colorful, pretty things a girl would think. But, when you're strapped to a table, unable to do anything as doctors forced a dangerous small object inside of you, that's not really possible especially since the pain was very harder than the absorbing process._

_Sophia begged and cried for someone, her parents, anyone to save her. She begged and pleaded for this to stop, but her wish wasn't granted and she tried to endure the pain as much as she could._

_Finally, when the process was done, Sophia could feel strength inside of her body, which was possibly due to the Enhancer's power. But at the same time, she was broken and felt miserable. Her parents didn't come at her most crucial moment of her life. And for that, she resented them for it. _

* * *

When Phi woke up, she was breathing heavily, and felt hot. Her clothes were sticking to her, and she found herself in some sort of treatment room. The sun was shining down on Phi from the window, and Phi remembered exactly what happened.

Last time Phi had awoke, she was confronted by Milla and Alvin, before she got shot by a poisonous arrow. Oh! And the Exodus thugs weren't after Milla, they were after Teepo! How could she forget about that?

Just then, a nurse walked into the room and was surprised to see Phi awake. "Oh! You're awake! That's a relief!"

"What happened to me?" asked Phi, standing up.

"You were shot with a poisnous arrow, but luckily, we found the cure for it and gave it to you. However, that cure had one side effect. It would give you nightmares and you would wake up in a few days," explained the nurse.

_'So that explains the nightmares,' _thought Phi. "Um...how long was I asleep?"

'For two days. Your friends told me to give you this. Excuse me," apologized the nurse, giving Phi a letter before running out the door. Phi opened the letter and read it through:

_"Dear Phi,_

_If you read this letter, then you're probably safe and cured from that nasty poison. Milla told me to give you her thanks for saving her. Anyways, we're sorry, but we decided to leave you behind. Milla says it was too dangerous for you, and we don't want you to risk your life for us anymore. Sorry, but Yurgen's offering to let you stay at his home. I'm sure Yurgen and Isla will take care of you from now on. Also, something bad happened at the tournament. _

_You see, the Exodus agents weren't after Milla. Turns out, they were after Teepo instead. We chased the Exodus agents towards the Royal Hunting Grounds and discovered a secret base there in Labari Hollow. Teepo is a stuffed toy designed to move around and talk for Elize, but there's more than that. Teepo's a third-generation booster that can voice Elize's thoughts. That's the only reason why Teepo can move around and talk._

_Also, please don't tell Yurgen about this. In fact, just burn up this letter when you're done reading it. Anyways, Isla made a contract with Exodus long before, and kidnapped Elize when she was just a child. A few days ago, she was forced into a contract with Exodus, who threatned to tell Yurgen about her past. But, at least, please don't hate her. She might not be able to atone for her sins, but still._

_Anyways, we're really sorry for leaving you behind. Thank you for helping me and the others escape back in Fort Gandala. Thank you for helping retrieve the spirit fossil for Milla. Thank you for saving Milla. And, thank you for all those times you've spent for us. And, we're sorry._

_From, Jude and the others. _

The first time Phi wanted to do when she saw Jude next time was to punch him in the face. Scratch that, she wanted to kick him where the sun don't shine! They're thanking her for letting them abandon her?! What the hell! This is just like the time where her real parents abandoned her! And this is just repeating the process!

Phi remembered exactly where Jude and the others were going. They were heading towards Kanbalar to warn the king that starting a war is a bad idea. Right now, she has to set out to go find them. Wait, now that she thought about it, it's a bad idea to not forgive Jude, because it'll be disobeying their trust. So, as painful as it can be, she HAS to forgive them, whether she likes it or not.

* * *

**Whew! I'm done! So, please read and review!**


	9. Trust Regained

**Yup another chapter for this week! Sorry, couldn't help it! Anyways, here goes!**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Tales of Xillia! **

* * *

_'This is easy! I should get to Kanbalar in just a few hours!' _thought Phi, who was riding through the Mon Highlands to Kanbalar while riding a horse she rented. It has been a day since she left Xian Du, and it took that whole day for Phi to keep calm and force herself to forgive Jude and the others for abandoning her.

Ever since she woke up, she got ready to leave, and talked with Yurgen's friends for a while. They explained to her everything what had happened, how Milla and the others won, where Elize and Alvin had been in the Royal Hunting Grounds where there was a secret laboratory, and other things. Phi never asked where her group went, for it might cause suspicion, so she rented the fastest horse they've got for a week, which cost half her money, but it was worth it for going to Kanbalar.

Phi had remembered where Milla and the others were going, and that was to Kanbalar, where they would be granted an audience to the king, her uncle, King Gaius. Anyways, Phi knew that they would fail in convincing Gaius to avoid war and that Alvin would betray them. Gaius had the four Chimeriad, Jiao, Wingul, Presa, and Agria. Phi remembered that they were all dead in her time, and how exactly they died. The one who angered her the most was Wingul, because he was the one who constructed the experiments on poor orphaned children, no matter what the reason. If she hurried, she might get to the part where Milla and the others were trying to escape. Besides, she knew all the shortcuts to getting to Kanbalar, and she took the quickest and easiest one there was, and she was almost to Kanbalar.

It would be obvious that Phi knows her way to Kanbalar since she lived there after a certain incident back in her time. She learned how to fight as both a swordsman and martial artist, cast strong artes, and other things a warrior should know. Riding a horse was one of the things she knew, so that was why she knew how to tame a horse easily. Besides, she was a bit royalty, but she never considered herself royalty.

Truth be told, Phi didn't want to forgive the others, but she had to in order to keep history safe. More importantly, Phi has to keep trusting Alvin no matter what, even if she didn't like it. If she didn't trust Alvin, and he got killed in an accident, Recon would never be born, and Phi made it her mission to see that her friends' parents survive.

* * *

_Meanwhile, a few hours later with Jude and the others... _

Jude was trying to find a strategy to beat both Wingul and Presa, who were in their way of their exit out of Kanbalar. Wingul had transformed into a new form which caused his abilities to boost up, and his hair to turn white, both caused by a booster, and he was speaking in a weird language. Presa had very strong magic abilities, and would be considered the mage in the Chimeraid.

"Ugh! They are certainely strong!" grunted Milla, dodging a water spell from Presa, only to get drenched.

"(Maxwell! Surrender now, or die!)" shouted Wingul in his foreign language. (I apologize, but I cannot understand or write down what Wingul's saying without some kind of translation.)

_'This is bad! Any moment, more guards might come outside! If so, we won't stand a chance especially with fighting two of the Chimeraid,' _thought Rowen, repelling against Wingul's swift strikes. _'Wingul, what happened to you?' _

Just when everyone's thoughts were occupied with the thoughts of despair, on the ground clinging behind, there was a slight vibration. There was a rhythmic beat rumbling getting louder and louder gradually. Soon, everyone's ears were able to hear that deep rumbling.

"Air Blade!" A green fluorscent line coming straight through the air flew past Milla and the others and swiftly slashed through Wingul's side, earning him a large gash from an unexpected direction.

"Gah!" yelled Wingul, falling to his knees and clutching his side with one hand. "(Who...who did that?!)"

Several seconds later, everyone saw a pitch black horse getting closer and closer to Kanbalar's entrance near the streets. The horse had a black cloaked rider too, like a certain undead rider riding down with lightning quick speed. The sounds of the gallops became a rumble as it shook the ground, overlapping the neighs of the horse.

The horse soon reached where the two groups, Milla's group, and Wingul's group, were. The rider climbed off the back of the horse and moved it to a safe place before turning to the two groups.

"Who are you?" asked Presa, getting her grimiore out and ready. The rider took off the black hoodie, revealing to be Phi.

"...What?"

"Eh?" Jude and the others were astonished to see Phi in Kanbalar, but more importantly, to see her recover. There was no doubt about it. It was Phi, looking all better from that poison. Why is she here and why did she save them?

"Don't stop! Hurry up, and run!" ordered Phi, running past them with her katana in hand. Wingul mustered up enough strength to stand up and blocked Phi's weapon, making their swords collide.

"Wait! Phi, what are you doing here?!" called Jude.

"We can talk later! Hurry up!" Phi pushed back the injured Wingul and backed away.

"We can't just leave you here!" shouted Rowen.

"Shut up and go! I promise, I'll be right there! Then you can explain what the hell is going on!" shouted Phi. "Today's not my day to die anyways."

"...We'll hold you to it!" ordered Milla as she and the others finally left.

"Ah, how sweet. Giving up your life for a friend," taunted Presa, gathering spirits.

"Like I said, today's not my day to die," replied Phi, getting in a fighting stance.

"We'll see! Icicle Rain!" From above, a large flurry of icicles starts raining down, about to cover the area with sharp, swift objects except for Presa and Wingul. As Phi dodges them, the relentless onslaught carpets the ground in icicles within seconds. There was no way anyone could dodge them in time.

Yet, the icicles have not hit Phi. Not a single one of the icicles has hit their target. "What?!" exclaimed Presa, surprised to see someone with great speed avoid all those icicles. At least a few should have been able to hit her!

"(Die!)" cursed Wingul, charging towards Phi. Phi faced Wingul, lowered her stance as she ran, her body nearly scraping the ground as it glided in. Phi twisted her body before reaching Wingul and swung her katana, but even with her speed, it was blocked by Wingul's sword, sneding out a burst of sparks. Using the force of her sword, Phi widened the distance between her and Wingul before taking a quick glance at Presa.

"Splash!" cried out Presa. A wave of water headed straight towards Phi, but as Phi was backing away, the wave reverted its direction and kept following Phi. Just when it was about to crash down, Phi stabbed her katana to the ground and somersaulted into the air, freeing her blade and avoiding the water spirit arte before jumping down.

Phi turned her head for a full second, and saw Alvin just leaning against a wall, watching the whole fight. He must have thought that Phi was looking at something else instead of him. Phi already knew why he was here, but focused more on the fight.

Every blow Phi tried to swing, it was always blocked by Wingul, and whenever she tried to get to Presa, her way was always blocked by Wingul. During their clashes, Wingul manages to strike at Phi little by little, despite his heavy injuries he earned from Jude and his friends. Also, Presa's powerful artes weren't helping Phi quite.

The young martial artist knew she had to hurry, or else the guards will come. Besides, she's already wasted enough time. Too bad she can't just finish them off, because she remembered they were needed for something important for the future, so that's why she can't kill them. Instead, she can at least try to tire them out, or better yet-!

"(Let's finish this!)" yelled Wingul, getting ready to retaliate.

"Icicle Volt!" chanted Presa. A large crystal of ice formed above Phi's head before dropping down. Phi didn't care about that, as she charged towards Presa and Wingul with an all-out strike planned. As soon as the large crystal crashed to the ground, Phi lost her footing and slid to the ground.

However, Phi ignored her injuries and forced herself up, running towards her two opponents. With all the speed she can manage, she arrived in one second in front of Wingul. Wingul swung his sword downwards at her, but Phi blocked it with her katana in one hand, and punched Wingul in the stomach with her other fist as deep as she could, causing Wingul to choke out saliva.

"(D-damn you-!)" shouted Wingul, bringing up his sword again. Phi stepped back and kicked at Wingul's bleeding side where his gash was, knocking him to the ground, making him groan in pain as he struggled to stand up.

"No!" shouted Presa, quickly gathering as much spirits as she could. "Th-ugh!" Phi kicked the grimoire out of Presa's hands as fast as she could. She then sheathed her katana and delivered many blows to her stomach before laying the final blow that knocked her out.

Laying her on the ground, Phi turned and saw Auj Oule soldiers coming from the castle. Phi still had time to finish off both Wingul and Presa, but she knew she can't kill them, so she was forced to retreat. Getting on top of her temporarily horse, she whipped at the reins, which signaled the horse to gallop off.

_'Okay, I have no idea where Milla and the others went, but I do know they're going back to Xian Du,' _thought Phi, dodging branches of the frosty trees in the Mon Highlands.

About a few hours later, she stopped her horse for today. Despite it being a winter-like area, the Mon Highlands do have some fresh lakes that weren't frozen, and she found one of them. As her horse was drinking water from the lake, Phi was fishing for some food and soon gathered two fish just for herself.

After setting up camp and a campfire, Phi was waiting for the fish to cook when she heard some bushes rustling. Getting out her katana, she picked up a rock from the ground, and waited for some sounds. Soon enough, she heard the sound of bushes rustling again, and she threw her rock in that very direction.

"Ow!" cried a familiar voice. Phi turned and saw Jude and Elize coming out from the bushes. Jude was clutching to his head, which was where Phi hit the rock.

"Oh, it's you guys," said Phi calmly.

"Phi! Thank goodness you're alright!" cried Elize.

"Yeah, it's good to see you too!" said Jude. "I'm going to go get the others and tell them you're here!"

A few minutes later, when everyone arrived, they first explained things to Phi what had happened back in Kanbalar, which was something Phi already knew, but pretended not to know. Finally, Milla asked, "What were you doing in Kanbalar?"

"Well, ever since the tournament, I rented a horse and wanted to go visit Kanbalar. It was my first time there, you know," Phi replied.

"That isn't your horse?" asked Elize.

"Nope, I'm just borrowing it for a week."

"Phi? Thanks for, you know, helping us escape back in Kanbalar," thanked Jude.

"No problem. I didn't know what was going on, but I saw you all facing off against some strange people. I thought I might help and get answers later."

"Phi, about that note," started Jude, looking guilty. "Look, we're sorry for leaving you like that."

"It's nothing, really. I'm fine, don't worry about it," assured Phi. _'I'm not okay, but I have to forgive you jerks,' _thought Phi.

"...Alright," decided Milla. "Phi, I too must apologize. It was my idea to abandon you in the first place, because I could not trust you. But after today, I feel as if I can trust you, for you have saved us so many times. So, thank you."

"I have to apologize," said Phi. "I don't think I've been really trustsworthy. Because of that, you guys left me in Xian Du. So, I'm sorry."

"No, no. It's quite alright," said Rowen.

"Yeah! Phi's saved us more than that jerk, Alvin!" agreed Teepo.

"But, I am a bit suspicious of you being a Spirit," admitted Milla. Everyone sighed. When was she finally going to quit asking that?

"Fine, fine. I'm going to bed. In fact, we should all go to bed. Goodnight," called Phi before going to her tent.

* * *

_Two days later... _

When arriving back in Xian Du, Phi had known that Alvin was following them all this time. During the two days, she had seen him hide behind trees or anything else. She wasn't sure if Alvin knew that she knew that he was here, but it didn't really matter. In order not to get Alvin killed, she kept making up excuses and trying not to get them to look in Alvin's direction. Also, she was feeding Alvin food, but only a few like one chicken leg per night.

"I'm going for a walk. I need to take a break," said Phi, quickly making an excuse.

"Alright, but don't take too long," called Jude as he and the others tried to find Yurgen and the wyverns he promised. Phi wandered off in a random direction, wondering where to go just when she bumped into someone.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" apologized a young woman.

"No, I'm sorry," said Phi. She looked up, and immediantly recognized this woman. It was Karla, her other aunt! Well, rather, the young Karla. She didn't have Alicia yet, who was Phi's cousin and Karla's own daughter.

"Oh? Pardon me for asking, but where are your parents?' asked the young woman. "And my name's Karla Outway."

"I don't have any parents. I'm a traveler," replied Phi. "My name's Phi. It's nice to meet you."

"A traveler at such a young age? You remind me of a girl named Elize. She's probably the same age as you."

"Elize? Then you know Jude as well? He's my friend."

"Yes, and I met the two of them. I was teaching Elize and giving her a short quiz question."

"Ah, so you're a teacher?" asked Phi, pretending not to know.

"Correct. If you want, I could ask you a quiz question like I did to your friend, Elize."

"Sure, I'll bite."

"Okay, what is the Battle of Fezebel?"

Phi thought about it for a moment before coming up with an answer. "It's a battle fought between Auj Oule and Rashugal on the Fezebel Outback 48-er, 20 years ago. The battle ended after a giant tsunami, which caused dramatic changes to the region's spirit climes."

"Right! Good answer! Oh wait, haven't I seen you before?"

Phi almost panicked. She hasn't done anything to disrupt time-well, not in a bad way, but this is the first she's met Karla in this time! "I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Yeah! You were with that group that doesn't use beastcraft back in the tournament!" said Karla, snapping her fingers like she figured it out.

Phi sighed in relief. "You're right about that."

"Well, congratulations on winning the whole tournament! Well, I have to go back to my hometown now. Bye!"

After watching Karla leave, Phi was a bit relieved that she was able to see her aunt again. In her time, Karla was still alive, but ever since she and her friends left the time portal, she has no idea what her aunt's status is. After all, she could be dead in the future. But, in order to prevent many people's deaths, she and her friends have to prevent the future's demise.

_'Okay, I have to find Alvin. I need to talk to him about something. He has to be somewhere in Xian Du,' _thought Phi. _'Now where could he-Oh! His mother's home!' _

Very quickly, Phi rushed to the direction of Alvin's mother's house as fast as she could, hoping that Alvin could be there. Once she was there, she arrived just in time to see Alvin close the front door and enter outside.

"Whoa! What's with you?" asked Alvin, surprised to see Phi running towards him.

Phi took a deep breath before letting it out. "Oh, hey Alvin. Nice to see you again," she said calmly, as if nothing happened.

"Um...okay? Anyways, it's good to see you up and running from that poison. Woke up today, huh?"

"Don't play coy, Alvin. I was awake days ago," revealed Phi. "Besides, I saw you in Kanbalar, watching me fight off against Wingul and Presa alone. Anyways, Jude and the others told me everything that's happened so far."

Alvin scratched his head sheepishly. "Yup, something they'd do. Guess it was a mistake for you to see me back in Kanbalar. So, what are you going to do now? And why are you here?"

"I came so I can find you."

"Really? And do what?"

"I thought it would be a good idea to find you here and talk to you. Alone."

"Oh? Talk about what? I've already betrayed you guys, so everything I might say could be a lie. You'd have to be an idiot to trust someone who just betrayed you."

"Really? Then I guess I am an idiot, even now," said Phi.

"...What? Are you saying...you trust me?"

"Yes."

That caused Alvin's eyesbrow to rose up in surprise. "Even though I just betrayed you in selling information to Gaius?"

"Yes."

"Damn, are you serious? Okay, why do you trust me?"

"I just do, alright? Besides, I already know that you've been following us all this time. If you think I'm a liar, then why do you think I've been making excuses all this time, trying to get the others off your trail? And I've been feeding food to you too!"

"...Yeah, good point," Alvin had to agree. "So, you really trust me that much you'd hide me from the others."

"Exactly," said Phi. "You owe me one for covering you all this time, so you can repay me by not betraying us again, even in a desperate situation where our opponents might win."

"Oh, really? You don't know if I'll betray you again," said Alvin, crossing his arms.

"I can guarantee that you won't."

"How?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"You do realize that I can be plotting to kill you behind your back anytime I want, right?"

"...I still trust you," was all Phi said before turning around.

"That's it? You're not even mad or anything?" asked Alvin.

"I told you, I trust you. I'm not mad, but I'm not happy either."

As Phi was walking away, Alvin got out his gun and aimed it towards Phi's back. "..." Then, he put it away and muttered while walking behind her, "Damn, how can you trust a guy like me anyways?"

* * *

Skit: Dinner!

"Guys! Dinner's ready!" called Jude. He and Rowen had caught a turkey somewhere in the Mon Highlands and were serving it for dinner that night.

"Alright!" cheered Leia as Jude was handing out pieces and pieces of the cooked turkey.

After Phi received some of the pieces, she glanced back, and saw Alvin poking out from one of the trees from a distance. Drool was pouring down his mouth, and she could hear his stomach growling from her position.

"Hey! What's that?!" shouted Phi, pointing to the sky. As soon as everyone's eyes reverted to the sky, Phi threw a turkey leg to Alvin's direction and said, "Oops! You all missed it! Sorry about that!"

Meanwhile, Alvin had caught the turkey leg in time and pouted how he only got one. Regardless, it was food, so he ate it, though his stomach was still hungry for more.

* * *

Skit: Nightmares

"Phi? There's something I should confess," admitted Jude.

"What is it?"

"Well, while you were still under the effects of the antidote, I went to visit you, and I heard you mumbling some things like your mom and dad."

"What?!" exclaimed Phi, panicking. This was bad! Did she say anything about the future?! Oh no! "What else did you hear?!"

"Nothing, really."

Phi sighed in relief. That was go-no, wait! No it wasn't! "You idiot! That was personal! Don't go sneaking off in a girl's room, you pedophile!" she shouted, chasing after Jude.

"Wah! But you weren't in a girl's room! And I'm no pedophile!"

"I don't care! Die! Fireball! Explosion! Splash!"

That night, no one questioned why Jude was burnt to a crisp, drenched, and then electrified.

* * *

Skit: Team Killer

"..."

"Hey, what's with the troubled look?" asked Alvin.

"Well, this may be a stupid question, but why didn't you help me back in Kanbalar? Jerk, you were standing right there. And don't deny it, I saw you!" said Phi. "So, why?"

"Oh, that," sighed Alvin, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, to be honest, I didn't feel like it."

"...What?"

"Yeah, I thought you might be able to handle it. But we're cool, right? No hard feelings? If you wanted help, you should have asked!"

"Well, thanks for the advice!" said Phi sarcastically with venom in her tone. "I'll be sure to call you next time I'm in trouble, all cold and alone, fighting against two dangerous guys that were about to kill me, and you're just standing there _watching_!" To prove her point, Phi punched Alvin in the arm.

"Ouch! No need to be so hard on me!" said Alvin, pretending to sound hurt when his arm was really hurting. "No, seriously, you didn't have to hit so hard!"

"Too bad!"

* * *

Skit: Secrets Kept

"By the way, Phi. Have I ever mention how cute you are?"

Just hearing Alvin say that to her made her blush and shocked. "W-what?! Where did that come from?! Wait, are you tryng to flirt with me?"

"No, no. Just listen. So, about a few days ago, I caught you sleeping, on Jude's lap, and he was cradling your head so softly," teased Alvin. "You must have been so tired, because you fell asleep right away! And, the kid even covered your small body with a blanket. If anything, he'd made a great father figure to you!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" said Phi, turning around, her face red.

Alvin grinned. Just one more push would do it. "Also, when you fell asleep, he pecked you on the forehead for a goodnight ki-"

Immediantly, Phi grabbed the front of Alvin's scarf and pulled him towards her. "Nothing. Happened."

Alvin only grinned wider and he rolled his eyes. "Suuure."

"Nothing! You didn't see anything! Say it!"

"I didn't see anything."

"Good." After Phi left, she didn't even notice Alvin snickering to himself and the fact that he had his fingers crossed behind his back.

* * *

**Okay! I'm done here! Please read and review!**


	10. Crazy Wyverns

**Whew! I just love Tales of Xillia! It's my new Tales series game, though I don't have the game. Anyways, here's the new chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Tales of Xillia, only the OCs! **

* * *

"How is your audience with the king?" asked Yurgen. Jude, Milla, Leia, Rowen, and Elize had finally found Yurgen talking with some people, and quickly decided not to mention anything of what really happened back at the palace.

"...I'm sorry, we'll have to talk later," apologized Milla, getting right to the point. "Can we depart right away?"

"Well, I guess that's possible. You in some kind of hurry?"

"Yeah!" cried Teepo. "The king's men are hot on our-"

Quickly, Jude covered Teepo's mouth, making him unable to speak any longer and making Yurgen puzzled. "No need to rush off," spoke a familiar voice. Everyone turned to see Alvin accompanied with Phi.

"Alvin?!" exclaimed Jude, shocked to see the traitor that betrayed them back in Kanbalar.

"They're on a wild goose chase in the mountains right about now," explained Alvin.

"You threw them off our scent? Is this some kind of peace offering?" questioned Milla, suspiciously.

"What? It's only natural I helped you. We're friends, aren't we?"

_'Well, not yet, exactly,' _thought Phi. "Don't worry. He won't betray us again," assured Phi. Still, everyone was quiet and didn't answer.

"Come on, you don't believe me?" Alvin half-whined as he placed an arm around Jude's shoulders. "I know you've put your trust in me before. Would it kill you to give me another shot?"

"I guess not," said Jude, thinking about it.

"Attaboy."

"Welcome back. I'm glad that you're safe," said Elize, still mad at Alvin.

Alvin chuckled. "Thanks. You almost sound sincere."

"If nothing else, it seems that Alvin has brought us some time," reminded Rowen.

"I'd ask what's going on, but I don't think I want to know," interrupted Yurgen, looking concerned. "You people sure have a lot of drama in your lives. I'll be in front of the wyverns. Come see me when you're ready to fly."

After Yurgen left, Jude asked Phi, "By the way, when did you meet up with Alvin?"

"I met him while on my walk. I saw him coming out from his mother's home, so I went there to talk to him," said Phi. "Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that Alvin's not going to betray you."

"Seems pointless to say something like that," said Milla. "I mean, words are cheap. Anyone can promise anything they want, but you must have considered that Alvin might betray us again."

"But that's why I'm telling you right now that Alvin won't betray us," said Phi.

"Are you seriously saying you trust that jerk?" asked Leia.

"Yes."

"Even though he betrayed us?"

"Yes."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you nuts?! What happens if he betrays us again?!" exclaimed Teepo.

"I'm not worried," said Phi calmly. "Alvin won't betray us."

"How can you know that?"

"I just know."

"You 'just know?' What's the matter with you?!"

"Alright, but let's ask one more thing," said Rowen, stepping up to the conversation. "Let's say that we do believe you, Phi, and that we still trust Alvin, in a way. But how do you know that Alvin's not going to betray us and leave us in the lurch?"

"I can guarantee it."

"How?"

"I can give you my word. Alvin will not betray us so long as I'm here. I swear it," swore Phi. "And when I keep a swear, I always keep it."

"Damn, if you say something like that, then there is no way I can betray you now, is there. So that's what you meant when you said you'd guarantee it," mumbled Alvin, impressed. "And if I do betray you again, it'll just leave a bad taste in my mouth."

"Exactly. I'm saying this so that you don't regret your actions."

"Wait, hold on," said Jude. "We may be able to trust you, Phi, but Alvin's a different story."

"Still having doubts about me, huh?" sighed Alvin, "Fine, fine. Remember the first time the three of us went to Nia Khera, and I went by myself? Well, I was off meeting with Wingul."

"So you had a secret arrangement with them?" asked Rowen. "To hand Milla over if she becomes a problem?"

"How could you? Stabbing Milla and Jude in the back like that?" scolded Leia, angrily.

"Hold it! Yeah, I was working a few different angles back then, but this time, I was using that to our advantage. You know, the only reason we were given permission to use the wyverns is because I arranged that with them ahead of time. If I haven't pretended to betrayed you in front of Gaius, they would have never let you ride the wyverns. That's why I lied and told them you ran the opposite direction of Xian Du."

"I want to believe you, but I can't. Not yet," said Jude.

"That reminds me. That Presa woman we met at the Kijara Seafalls. It seems like you already knew her," questioned Milla.

"What do you want to know?" asked Alvin.

"Who is she, really?" asked Jude, fed up with the secrets. "Phi may be able to trust you, but how can we trust you, if you keep hiding information from us?!"

"Hey, alright, calm down. There's no need to get snappy."

"Do you even know what you're putting us through?"

Alvin sighed in defeat. "I met her when I was working for Rashugal's intelligence service. At the time, she was an Auj Oule secret agent working undercover in Fenmont. After that, we became more...personally involved. You probably don't want to know the specifics."

_'More personally involved, huh? Please tell me that Alvin's just kidding about him having some sort of crush on Presa, because I'm trying too hard to hook him up with Leia. Although, I haven't made any progress,' _thought Phi, annoyed.

"Okay, I believe you, but I still don't trust you," admitted Jude.

"Heh, you're so cute when you're upset."

"Stop that. I'm still mad at you!"

"Alvin, can I ask you one last thing?" asked Milla. "Tell us why you're helping us. What's in it for you?"

"You're asking that now? Because I love the hell out of you guys, of course!"

Everyone but Milla sweatdropped and had annoyed looks on their faces. There might as well be a cricket cricketing in the background. "More lies!" accused Teepo.

"How could you say that? I'm hurt!"

"Whatever, let's just go get our wyverns before any Exodus agents get in our way again," suggested Phi. "And believe me, I do not want to get shot in the back by an arrow again. More specifically, the third time and if it's a poisoned one."

After finally meeting Yurgen near the cages where they kept the wyverns, Yurgen was giving instructions on how to ride a wyvern. "...And then, you have to hold on the reins very tightly, because sometimes, wyverns look to loop around in the skies, causing many people to fall off. And only two people at a time can ride a wyvern."

"Who should we pair up who?" wondered Jude. "If it doesn't bother you, Milla, will you pair up with me?"

"Sure."

"Oh! Then I'll pair up with Rowen!" said Leia.

"I guess that just leaves me and Elize then," said Alvin.

"Hey! Don't forget me too!" shouted Teepo.

"Wait! Isn't there an extra wyvern?" asked Phi. "You're forgetting another person."

"Well luckily, there's another wyvern, but there's a bit of a problem," said Yurgen. "Here, I'll free the wyverns, give me a minute." Once Yurgen freed the wyverns, there was four in total. "This one is called Spike, and he's a fierce and energetic wyvern. Who'll take him?"

"We'll take him," said Milla, taking the reins of Spike from Yurgen.

Yurgen pulled on the reins of another wyverns that was quiet. "This one's called Vigilance, and she's a quiet and firm wyvern."

"Interesting. Perhaps this one will suit my style," said Rowen, taking Vigilance.

"This one's Bluebell. She's a bit wild, but still more tamed."

"Alright, we'll take this one," said Alvin, taking Bluebell.

"I don't mean to rush you or anything, but what about my choice of the wyvern?" asked Phi.

"Well, here he is," said Yurgen, looking a bit nervous as he pulled on the last wyvern's reins. The wyverns was stubborn and tried to pull back the reins, but unfortunely, Yurgen being an wyvern expert, won the battle. "You see, his name's Firebolt. He's the fastest wyvern and the most fastest creature in Xian Du. Although, he's stubborn, persistent, and easily hot-tempered. Not many people use him."

"Perhaps we should have taken that one," said Milla.

"Hmm...I'll take it!" decided Phi, swiping the reins from the wyvern.

"Ooh, betting on the dark horse, eh? Or, in this case, the dark wyvern," chuckled Alvin, impressed.

"Well, we seemed to be ready," said Milla as she and Jude started climbing on top of the wyvern they chose. Everyone else started to ride on their wyverns, but it took a while for them to because of Firebolt who kept trying to run off.

"Hold still, Firebolt!" shouted Phi. _'Wait, that reminds me. Didn't Aylen have a wyvern named Firebolt?'_

* * *

_Flashback... _

_"And I like to introduce Firebolt!" announced ten-year-old Aylen, bringing a wyvern with the reins. Sophia had visited Xian Du just to learn more strategies on defeating a force of Dark Spirits while riding on a wyvern. At least there wasn't any flying Dark Spirits, for now._

_"Aylen, is that a wyvern?" asked 8-year old Sophia, who was with ten-year-old Recon. _

_"Yup! One of the last of his kind! Don't worry! He's grown calm throughout the years!" assured Aylen. Then, Firebolt huffed at him and kicked him. "Ow! Okay, well, a little calm. His favorite food is insects, ferrets, birds, and fish. And he might come in useful for battles someday. That's why we're training him now. So, hop on, Sophia!"_

_"Me? Why not Recon?"_

_"I've already done training sessions with Firebolt," said Recon. "And, I don't think he likes me. He's been trying to kill me in so many ways, like dunking me in water, or purposely doing loops just to make me fall off!"_

_"What did you do?"_

_"I shot an apple that was sitting on top of his head for target practice."_

_"Then of course he won't like you! Ugh, forget it! Let's go, Aylen!" said Sophia. With a bit of help from both Recon and Aylen, they helped her climb up the wyvern. Next, Aylen sat behind her and tightened her grip around Sophia's wrist._

_"Okay, first you need to whip the reins as hard as you can, and then Firebolt will take off!" explained Aylen. "Hey, try it!"_

_Nodding her head, Sophia whipped the reins as hard as she could, and Firebolt screeched in pain. Like a horse, he trotted towards the edge of the cliff in Xian Du and took off, flying through the skies._

_"Hold on tight! Firebolt doesn't like being patient!" called Aylen. _

_"You really need to work on your timing!" yelled Sophia, gripping the reins tightly as Firebolt looped around and around, almost sending both Sophia and Aylen flying towards the ground._

_Just then, Firebolt started soaring down towards the deep dark depths of Xian Du, and Sophia cried out, "How do you make him fly back up?!"_

_"Pull the reins! Pull! Pull!" _

_Nodding, Sophia pulled as hard as she could, and Firebolt flew back up, towards the blue sky. Aylen and Sophia spatted out water and air from the clouds they flew through and realized they were really high in the sky._

_"Whoa...it's been a long time since I've seen a wonderful view like this," spoke Aylen, amazed. "I think that's enough for today."_

_"Great, so how do you get him down?" asked Sophia. _

_"Oh, I don't know. He usually goes down when he wants to."_

_"Aylen! Okay, what about your father?"_

_"Yeah...he doesn't know I'm using one of the wyverns, much less Firebolt."_

_"AYLEN!"_

* * *

_End of flashback... _

_'And then Aylen was grounded for two weeks,' _thought Sophia, finally remembering her first experience riding a wyvern. "Hey, hold these for me!" Sophia gave the reins back to Yurgen before running towards Alvin and Elize, who were already on their wyvern. "Alvin! Let me borrow your gun!"

"Why? Get your own."

_'Selfish jerk! First, he refused to help me back in Kanbalar, and now he's fussing over his gun? What a picky, drama queen!' _thought Phi, annoyed. "Fine then! I'll be right back!"

Running down the streets, she glanced around, hoping to find some food for her stubborn wyvern she had to ride. Just then, she heard some man call out, "Roasted birds! Get your delicious roasted birds here! They taste like chicken! Only 50 money each!"

"I'll take 20!" declared Phi, handing some money to the man that was selling roasted birds. "And put it in a bag!" After receiving a bag of roasted birds on a stick, she hurried back to where the others were.

"Where were you?" asked Jude. "And what's in that bag?"

Jude's question was answered when Phi took out a stick of roasted birds and held it over Firebolt's nose, the delicious scent making the wyvern's mouth dripping with saliva. "You want the dead birds, huh? Go get the dead birds!" taunted Phi, throwing the stick of roasted birds to the air a little. Immediantly, Firebolt gobbled up the roasted birds, spitting out the stick.

"Wait, is that bag filled with dead birds?" asked Leia.

"I had no choice, I thought he might like dead birds," replied Phi, getting out another stick and feeding the happy and hungry Firebolt.

"Hey, can I have one?" asked Alvin.

"Why? Get your own."

_'Ouch! Was that payback for what I said eariler?' _thought Alvin. As Phi was feeding Firebolt his third dead bird stick, everyone watched as she carefully tried to get on top of Firebolt. Once Firebolt realized that Phi was on his back, he screeched and tried to shake Phi off, but Phi hung onto the reins as tightly as she could.

"Hey! Knock it off!" shouted Phi. With one hand, she fished out another dead bird on a stick before feeding it to Firebolt, who calmed down while eating it. Then, the second he finished eating the dead bird, Phi remembered she had to whip the reins as hard as she could, and she did.

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't do-" Yurgen was a bit too late, because when Phi whipped the reins, Firebolt trotted towards the edge before opening up his wings and flapping away. Everyone watched as Phi was trying her best to stay on top of Firebolt, and they would have been laughing if the situation wasn't so serious and life-threatning.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Jude. Milla did the same exact thing Phi did, and in one second, she and Jude were soaring in the skies, like Phi was. The others did the same, only their riding was a bit more steadier.

_'Damn! Firebolt is more wild in the past!' _thought Phi, gripping onto the reins tightly. Everyone else seems to be hanging on for dear life as well, but Phi's wyvern was the most deadly, yet fastest of them all.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" screamed Jude, wrapping his arms tightly around Milla's waist. The wyvern he was riding, Spike, really did live up to his name, or rather, his personality. Even though Phi's wyvern was in the lead, Spike was second, and looked really determined to beat Firebolt as if they were having a race.

"AAAAHHH! STOP THIS WYVERN! I WANNA GET OFF!" cried Leia, clutching onto Rowen as if she was squeezing him to death. Rowen was grunting as he tried to balance his wyvern, Vigilance, only it seems to be failing.

"This is quite difficult-!" panted Rowen, his knuckles turning white as he clutched the reins more and more tightly.

Alvin might be considered the worst wyvern rider out of everyone, and Elize doesn't count since she's a child. They almost fell off about three or four times thanks to Alvin yanking on the reins too tightly on their wyvern, Bluebell. "Try to steer better, please!" pleaded Elize, holding onto the cringing Teepo.

"Aaaahhh! I think I'm gonna barf!" whined Teepo.

"Teepo! Shut up!" yelled Alvin, trying his best to steer better.

"A-are we there yet?!" asked Jude to Milla through the swift winds in the skies.

"No, not yet-!" Milla yanked on the reins on the right side, which caused Spike to turn to face the water downwards. Milla pulled on the reins on top for Spike to fly above the water beneath them. Then, Spike flew up again and flew through a hole in one of the rocky spires before soaring through the clouds high in the sky.

Once Jude opened his eyes, he was amazed to see the sunlight illuminating down. It was if as he could see faint colors of the rainbow gleaming from the sun and showering down unto them. The land of white clouds beneath them looked like soft, fluffy ground, and the whole background looked like a fantasy land, as if it came from a fairy tale. Everyone else, including Phi, who had finally managed to keep Firebolt in place, looked up in astonishment.

Phi glanced down in sadness for a moment. In her future, there was only one time she got to spent soaring through the blue skies, while other people were getting slaughtered and eaten by Dark Spirits. She was only trained once in case she became a wyvern rider to defeat Dark Spirits from above, but that opportunity never came. Despite that, in order to keep the future at peace like the beautiful view she just saw, she needed to work hard, and find the cause of the Dark Spirits.

As if sensing her determination, Firebolt swooped down to the water below, making Phi cry out in surprise and everyone else to see what was going on. Unfortunely, thanks to the clouds blocking their way, they couldn't see what was going beneath the clouds. Just when Phi was about to yank on the reins for Firebolt to slow down, Firebolt skimmed his talons across the surface of the sea, and before she knew it, Phi was having a great time with Firebolt, despites the troubles he gave her several minutes ago.

Firebolt pulled his body back up into the cloudy sky, where Jude and the others were waiting. Phi glanced back to try and wave to the others, but she was horrified to see a very large, green bird and dinosaur-like monster much bigger than any of the wyverns flew up right next to Alvin and Elize.

_'I've only seen it in books, but I think that's a Pterobronc! The Ruler of the Skies!' _thought Phi, quickly getting over her shock. "Get out of there, now!" yelled Phi, trying to turn back her wyvern.

"W-what the hell is that?!" exclaimed Alvin.

"It's so huge!" cried Teepo. Their wyvern, Bluebell, managed to fly away in time before Pterobronc could take a nice, juicy taste of her.

"It's right on our six!" shouted Elize, terrified.

"Everyone, dive!" ordered Jude. Everyone else didn't need to be told twice, as they swoop past the cloud barriers and out of Pterobronc's range. Phi was the only one still in the clouds, urging Firebolt to fly down as well, but he kept refusing, even when Phi was tempting him with another stick of dead bird. Luckily, the giant dinosaur creatures hasn't noticed Phi and was after the other wyverns. It started firing fireballs from its mouth, and one of them hit Spike, Jude and Milla's wyvern.

Spike, now having only one unharmed wing, couldn't control his flying without his other wing, so he started crashing down towards a nearby land. "Jude!" screamed Leia, loud enough for Phi to hear.

_'Oh no! Don't tell me that Jude's wyvern got hit! Damn it!' _thought Phi, frustrated with herself. She was wondering what to do when she noticed the spark of determination in Firebolt's eyes. It was if it was intimitated that Pterobronc ignored him, and now Firebolt wishes to challenge him. That gave Phi a great, yet dangerous idea. "Hey, Firebolt! I'll give you all the dead birds in this bag, if you help me defeat that monster!"

As if acknowledging her answer, Firebolt roared in response, giving Phi the okay sign. "Alright, let's do this!" shouted Phi, forcing Firebolt to turn around and chase after Pterobronc.

Meanwhile, Milla and Jude were groaning in pain as they tried to stand up from their crash-landing. Their wyvern Spike, was badly injured, and didn't look like he'd be flying anytime soon. However, that was the least of their concerns.

"Watch out!" warned Milla. Jude turned his head to see the beast, Pterobronc soar towards him with a intent to kill. Just then, Alvin jumped out of nowhere, stood in front of Jude, and parried Pterobronc's claw, but that caused Alvin to fly back a bit. However, Elize, Rowen, and Leia arrived at the scene, prepared to fight.

"Alvin, are you okay?" grunted Jude, now standing on his own two feet.

With a small _click-clank _sound, Alvin focused his gun at the Pterobronc. "No time to chat now, kid!"

The Pterobronc flew higher into the sky before creating a rain of fireballs, casting them down towards the group. Immediantly, the group ran for cover, but the entire plaza of Sharilton, the place where they landed, was completely charred with fireballs.

"Flame Lance!" Suddenly, a single blade of fire flew out of nowhere and stabbed the Pterobronc in the back, creating a small explosion when it collided. As soon as the dust cleared, the Pterobronc was only a little hurt, but mostly unharmed. Also, it was angry as it looked up.

Milla and Rowen took this chance to start gathering spirits and cast an arte together. "Raging Mist!" An opaque white cloud of steam surrounded the Pterobronc, searing it with intense, scalding heat. Everyone else got back on the battlefield and found out who had fired the Flame Lance arte.

Way above, it was Phi, concentrating on collecting spirits and chanting from above while riding onto her wyvern, Firebolt. Firebolt was calm for once, but there was a fierce fire in his eyes. and if the Pterobronc were to target his temporarily rider, then the monster would have to go past Firebolt first!

"Is..is she fighting while riding a wyvern?!" exclaimed Leia, squinting her eyes. Immediantly, both Alvin and Jude ran and jumped onto different wyvern's backs, making them screech and fly upwards.

"What are you doing?!" shouted Milla, surprised.

"Sorry Milla! We have to help Phi!" called Jude before his wyvern, Bluebell, rode off. Alvin's wyvern, Spike, followed after. As soon as the steam around the Pterobronc cleared, it roared when it saw Phi and Firebolt, and flew towards them faster than Jude and Alvin.

Phi, getting a little off-guard, shouted, "Firebolt! Dodge!" Firebolt turned to fly away to avoid the Pterobronc, but he was one second too late. The Pterobronc twisted around and knocked Firebolt around, fumbling with his flying and almost causing Phi to fall off.

"Phi! Are you okay?" called Jude. Phi nodded, but she was clutching onto her arm. Sure she may have survived that blow, but her arm took the hit for her, but not enough to cause a bruise.

"We have to find its weak spot! Don't get too close to it!" shouted Alvin, shooting at the Pterobronc, though it had little damage to it.

Meanwhile, since the others on the ground couldn't fly up to the monster without wyverns, they were casting artes to either support their allies or fight the monster. "Brutal Torrent!" cried both Rowen and Leia in unison. Just when the Pterobronc was about to target Alvin, a sphere of water splashed all over the Pterobronc's head from above and shocked it, flinching it for only a few seconds.

"Now's my chance! Wind Blade!" shouted Jude, thrusting his palm forward. Blades of green wind spread out in a fan shape and flew towards the Pterobronc, dealing scratches all over its body.

The Pterobronc roared before firing fireballs all over the skies, targeting Phi, Jude, and Alvin. One hit Alvin in the shoulder, and two other almost hit Jude and Phi. Elize, seeing how hurt Alvin was, started chanting a healing spell. "Spirits flutter and prvent misfortune, Nurse!"

Since Phi and Jude were close next to Alvin, they were also consumed in a blue light that made their injuries vanish, and so did their wyverns. While concentrating on getting more spirits for a new spirit arte, Phi ordered, "I need you two to distract that beast while I cast an arte! Give me ten seconds!"

"Right!" Both males agreed before whipping their reins so that both their wyverns could fly towards the Pterobronc. Alvin unsheathed his sword, but put away his gun as he advanced closer and closer to the Pterobronc. The Pterobronc wasn't stupid enough to let Alvin lay a hit, so it fired a series of fireballs at him while Jude flew in from behind.

"Aqua Edge!" yelled Milla. Blades of water sprung up from the sea and blocked every single fireball in Alvin's way, keeping him from harm's way.

"Double Demon Fang!" Striking twice, Jude delivered two heavy blows to the Pterobronc once he got close and managed to jump on its back. Before the Pterobronc could shake Jude off, Jude had already jumped off the monster and grabbed hold of Bluebell's reins before climbing back to her back.

"Get out of the way, now!" ordered Phi, now wielding a green mana-based bow and arrow that she created out of thunder spirits during the free time she gained. Phi was never taught how to properly fire correctly, but she had fired an arrow before. It was just she never had practice for a bow, so she'll just have to hope that at least one of the three arrows will hit the Pterobronc! "Thunder Arrow!"

Immediantly, Alvin and Jude flew out of the way as soon as Phi fired a electrical arrow towards the Pterobronc. However, her arrow missed and flew straight towards a cloud, not that it had any effect.

"Try again!" called Jude. Phi nodded before positoning herself, ready to fire her second mana arrow. Just then, the Pterobronc flapped its wings so hard that heavy winds started blowing all over the place, nearly making Jude, Alvin, and Phi fall off their wyverns, and making Milla and the others below lose their concentration on their casting and incantations. Also, Phi let loose her second arrow, and it lost to the winds.

"You've only got one shot left! Aim for the kill-shot! The heart!" shouted Alvin, loading up his gun and firing at the Pterobronc. Jude was chanting some spirit artes, and was firing blades of winds towards the Pterobronc, though it didn't have any effect. As the two men were fighting against the Ruler of the Skies, Phi was trying to aim carefully to the beast, but there was only two problems. One, she's not skilled in firing an arrow, and two, the Pterobronc was moving too fast for her to ajust her aim correctly.

Frustrated, the Pterobronc decided to end it all by flapping its wings once more, bringing a more powerful, terrible storm of winds. Luckily, Phi, Alvin, and Jude had enough common sense to wrap their wyvern's reins around their hands for that moment, but the others below were knocked off their feet, literally.

"Get in close! Now!" Phi ordered Firebolt. Firebolt zoomed past Jude and Alvin and got behind the Pterobronc in just a full second. With every strength he had, Firebolt bit down the sky ruler's shoulder, making it roar so loud, the roar was heard all over Sharilton. The Pterobronc twisted its neck to face Phi and Firebolt, and was storing up a huge fireball in its mouth.

"Get out of there, Phi!" cried Leia, channeling some spirits to try and protect Phi. Her instincts told her that something bad was going to happen, so even if she can't block the Pterobronc's attack, she can at least try to defend Phi-!

"Firebolt, let go!' shouted Phi, tugging at the reins desperately. However, Firebolt refused and continued to bite deep into the monster's back. _'Damn it! I don't how to control Firebolt well! Only Aylen could! What to do?!' _thought Phi. Suddenly, she got an idea and turned around. Then, she plucked out one of Firebolt's feathers.

With a loud cry of pain, Firebolt released the Pterobronc and flew out of the way. Unfortunely, when Firebolt flew away and unpurposely showed his back, that gave an golden opportunity for the Pterobronc. The breath it accumulated was released in a conflagration of fire, a crimson red line of fire exhaling from the Pterobronc's mouth, leaving a trail in the air.

Phi pulled Firebolt's reins to the left and tried to avoid the pillar of fire, but the pillar of fire struck Firebolt's right wing and legs, causing an explosion which made Firebolt land on the ground in Sharilton, and for Phi to fall down into the ocean from high above.

"PHI!" screamed Jude, forcing his wyvern, Bluebell, to fly towards Phi. Jude reached out a hand to try and grab her. Phi, however, had other plans and aimed and fired her third green arrow towards the Pterobronc.

**SWOOSH! SPLASH! **The second Phi fell to the water, the last green arrow hit the Pterobronc, but not exactly as Phi wanted it to be. Instead, it only struck the monster's leg, but that was enough. In fact, the sky beast cried in pain as it furiously started flying its wings to stay up. A bird can fly if it has both its wings and legs completely safe, but since Phi injured one of the Pterobronc's legs, its flying was off balanced.

"Phi! Whre are you?!" Jude looked around the waters to find Phi. Bluebell wouldn't dare go near the ocean, so it left Jude with only the option to search for Phi. Finally, Phi sprang up from the water and into the surface, gasping for breath and coughing out salt water she possibly swallowed. Jude sighed in relief.

"Kid, watch out!" cried out Alvin from way above. Jude looked up and saw the Pterobronc shooting fireballs again. As Alvin and Jude's wyverns, Spike and Bluebell, try to fly and dodge all of them, eventually, one of them hit the wyverns each.

"Aaaaahhhh!" Both Jude and Alvin screamed as they and their wyverns crashed to the grounds of Sharilton, defeated.

"Jude! Alvin!" cried both Leia and Elize, rushing to their sides and healing them quickly with their spirit artes.

"Tidal Wave!" hollered Milla with all her might. A large wave that reached to the heavens raised up and up until it was as high as the Pterbronc before it slammed down, engulfing the monster. Then, the monster rose from the deadly waters and prepared for another fire blast, but wasn't prepared for one final attack.

"Crescendo! Gracioso!" chanted Rowen, moving his hands as if he was conducting a play. As if triggering something, the heavy waves that created a single tidal wave rose up into several ice pillars, one of them freezing the Pterobronc. Then, walking away with his back turned, Rowen secretly threw a knife at the ice pillars, shattering all of them in one hit. "Grand Finale!"

This special technique was more than just effective. It also destroyed the frozen Pterobronc, the Ruler of the Skies! Now, its frozen remains will wander into the deep seas, for all eternity.

"Wait! What about Phi?!" questioned Jude, recovering a bit and standing up. He ran to the edge of the sea and called out, "Phi! Where are you?!"

"Right *cough* h-here!" coughed out Phi, dog paddling her way to Jude tiredily. She weakly reached out a hand, and Jude quickly took it, pulling her to shore. Leia tended to her and hit her in the back to stop her coughing.

"Please, no one panic! Women and children, seek shelter in your homes!" ordered a familiar voice. Everyone turned to see Driselle and a few green soldiers with her. Once Driselle realized it was them, Elize came up to her. "Elly? What are you doing here?"

"I'm home," replied Elize with Rowen walking up behind her. Just then, Alvin collapsed on his knees, bring everyone's attention.

"You okay? You took a tough hit when you saved me," said Jude, rushing to his side.

"Seemed like no big whup at the time, but now, it's really hitting me," wheezed Alvin.

"Help us carry the injured," ordered Driselle to some soldiers.

* * *

_Later... _

Ever since everyone got better a few hours later, they were informed that the wyverns were in no position to be flying anytime soon, so that leaves them with the option of walking to Fenmont. Of course, Milla decided they should rest for one day before heading to Fenmont to refresh their energy, so everyone wandered off in their own.

Phi found Rowen in Driselle's mansion, sitting all alone in a table. He looked deep in thought, so she decided to let him wait. However, Rowen noticed Phi and asked, "What are you doing there, Phi?"

"Oh, you looked like you needed a moment alone, so I waited for you," replied Phi, walking towards him. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Not really, no," said Rowen. "Very nice weather we're having, aren't we? For some reason, this reminds me of the time when I first met you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you were quite blunt and perhaps a bit rude at the time, but you helped all of us escaped while you fended off the Golems, so for that, I thank you."

"That's all in the past. I helped you because I wanted to, nothing to it," said Phi. "Oh, something else did cross my mind. It seems that Nachtigal knew you somehow, but I won't question you about that."

"Well, I have a question for you, then," started Rowen. "Milla does mention every single day that you are a spirit, but you don't seem to show any signs about being a spirit. Oh, and i'm not trying to make you mad or anything."

"Then, what are you asking?"

"What I'm asking is, who are you, Phi?"

"..." Phi took a moment before answering. "Well, I'm not a Rashugal soldier, that's for sure. And I'm not an Auj Oule soldier either. I'm not a spy, or part of Exodus. I'm just a regular human being that's NOT a spirit. Unfortunely, Milla can't get that through her mind. It's pretty tiring, to be honest."

Rowen sighed. "Yes, you are right. It's rather a bit annoying, to be honest."

"And it seems like Milla's everyday hobby to ask me that, no matter what I say."

"Perhaps you should prove that you aren't a spirit," suggested Rowen.

"How, exactly?"

"I do not know, but someday, you may be able to prove to her. After all, even Maxwell can be mistaken sometimes."

"...Yeah."

After chatting with Rowen for a little while, Phi decided to explore around the mansion just for a few minutes. In one of the rooms, Phi found Elize and Teepo reading a book. Elize looked up and cried, "Oh, Phi! Nice to see you. Are you okay?"

Phi nodded before entering inside. "Um...what are you reading?"

"It's a story called, Little Red Riding Hood! It's one of my favorite stories," answered Elize.

"I never heard of it before," spoke Phi honestly. Back in her time, she never had the time to read children stories, but rather, books for strategies and important stuff like that.

"What? You never heard of this awesome book?" exclaimed Teepo.

"I'll read it out to you," offered Elize. "Is that okay?" Phi nodded before sitting down in front of her. "Okay, here goes..."

* * *

**One day, a girl named Little Red Riding Hood heard that her grandmother was sick, so she decided to give her good, delicious food in a basket and deliver it to her house. Wearing her good red cape, she set off in the forest, unknown that a certain wolf was following her.**

**This wolf was named the Big Bad Wolf, and once he smelled the delicious scent coming from Little Red Riding Hood's basket, he set off to try and steal from her secretly. Once he got to her, he asked gently, "Why hello, Little Red Riding Hood! Fancy meeting you here! What's the basket for?"**

**Little Red Riding Hood said, "Oh, these are for my grandmother, who's sick."**

**"Well, why don't you pick flowers for her, then? I'm sure she'll like that!"**

**Agrreing, Little Red Riding Hood set off to go pick flowers for her grandmother, while the Big Bad Wolf set off towards the direction of her grandmother's home. Once there, he broke down the door, ate her grandmother, and disguised himself as Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother.**

**At arriving at her grandmother's home, Little Red Riding Hood entered inside and saw her grandmother in bed. However, she looked strange, so she approached her.**

**"Oh, grandmother! What big ears you have!" cried Little Red Riding Hood.**

**"All the better to hear you, child," said the Big Bad Wolf, disguised as her grandmother.**

**"Grandmother, what big eyes you have!"**

**'All the better to see you, child."**

**"Grandmother, what big teeth you have!"**

**"All the better to eat you!"**

**With that said, the Big Bad Wolf swallowed up Little Red Riding Hood in one gulp. After eating her, he began to feel tired, so he fell asleep.**

**Meanwhile, the hunter of the forest saw that a house has been broken down and went inside to see the Big Bad Wolf all fat and plump, sleeping on the ground. The hunter then cut out the Big Bad Wolf's stomach, freeing Little Red Riding Hood and her mother.**

**Everyone celebrated by eating the delicious food Little Red Riding Hood brought, and they all lived happily ever after! The End! **

* * *

"Wait, that's it?" asked Phi, surprised. "Okay, so many things here made no sense whatsoever. First, how can wolves talk? Second, why did Little Red Riding Hood talk to him as if it was normal? Third, how was Little Red Riding Hood not able to identify the Big Bad Wolf after he ate her grandmother? Fourth, how are they still alive after getting eaten? And fifth, I thought this was a children's story! There's not supposed to be killing!"

"Hey, it's a fairy tale! It's not supposed to make sense!" replied Teepo.

"A fairy tale? What's that? Fairies have tails?"

"You mean, you don't know what a fairy tale is?" asked Elize, surprised. "A fairy tale is a type of short story that involves fantasy, like princesses or magic."

"Oh? I've never heard of fairy tales before, sorry," apologized Phi.

"That's fine, don't worry about it! If you like, I can tell you all the fairy tales I know."

"Maybe not today, Elize. Okay?"

"Sure."

Once outside, she spotted Leia outside in town, wandering around. "Leia!" called Phi, walking towards her.

"Oh, hey Phi," said Leia. "It sure is hot, isn't it? I was going to get some ice cream. Want to come with?"

"Ice...cream? Cream has ice in it?" asked Phi, confused. She's never heard of ice cream before, and even if she had, she wouldn't have seen it before either.

"You mean you've never tasted ice cream before?" gasped Leia, surprised. "Well, come on! It'll be my treat!" Grabbing her hand, Leia marched over to the ice cream stand, dragging Phi along. Afterwards, she ordered two popsicles from the ice cream man and handed one to Phi.

Phi hesitantly took a small bite of it, and found her front teeth cold. However, when she absorbed the taste, it wasn't just cold, but fruity as well. "It's good," muttered Phi, amazed.

"See? Told ya!" cheered Leia, licking her popsicle. "Hurry up and eat yours! You don't want it to melt, do you?"

"Huh? Alright." As fast as she could, Phi started gobbling down the popsicle and swallowing it as fast as she could. However, he head started thrubbing like crazy, and she could feel a cold sensation, making her stop.

Leia giggled. "You're not supposed to eat it that fast! Otherwise, you'll get brain freeze! Just eat it normally, not too fast though."

Phi nodded in agreement. Both girls sat down in a bench and silently ate their popsicles. Finally, Leia spoke. "Um...Phi? What do you plan to do after all of this is over?"

"Well, I plan to travel around like Alvin, only not as a mercenary. What about you, Leia? Are you coming back to Leronde?"

"Yeah, after all, I can't keep my folks waiting! My mom especially, since she can be scary," chuckled Leia nervously. "But wait, don't you have any parents or family? I bet they must be worried."

"Sorry, but no," said Phi. "I'm an orphan, ever since...Austin and Nia Matthews died."

"Who are they? Are they your caretakers?"

"No, they're my former real parents, but they're dead, and I have no one else to turn to. I don't even want to get adopted anyways."

"Why are you calling them by just their first and last names?" asked Leia.

"Because I don't view them as parents, but I'll at least call them by their real names." Phi was lying a little. Sure, her parents are dead, but she lied about their names.

"Um...you don't have to answer me if you don't want to, but I want to know," started Leia. "We saw those large scars all around your arms and legs. Did you hate your parents because...?"

"Oh, that. No, they never once abused me or anything. These scars came from training and battles, that's all. Yeah, don't ask why I hate them because everything else is personal," said Phi. "In fact, can we drop this whole subject? I'm sorry, but it's making me...uncomfortable."

"Oh, sure. Alright," said Leia. "Hey, your ice cream's melting!"

"Huh? Oh!" Phi tried to lick the rest of her ice cream, which ended up in disaster, and Leia's happy laughter. Leia helped clean Phi up, though, and both talked for a while before going their separate ways.

Phi saw Alvin looking out at the shore and walked up to him from behind. She saw that Alvin was writing something, possibly to the woman he's always writing to. As soon as he was done, he placed the letter in some sort of small bottle before handing it to his small bird companion, watching it go fly.

"There, and another job well done," sighed Alvin to himself. "Hope that she gets it and not piss off at me."

"So it seems," spoke Phi finally.

"Gah!" cried out Alvin, surprised. He turned around, and saw only Phi there. "What?! When did you-?!"

"I've been here the whooole time," Phi teased a bit while looking deadpanned.

"..."

"Just teasing. I just got here a while ago."

"Seriously? I totally didn't notice you," said Alvin, impressed.

"Oh. I guess your hearing's starting to go. How sad," spoke Phi sarcastically.

_'Rrrgghhh...' _thought Alvin, a tick mark at his forehead. "Anyways, did you read what I wrote in that letter?"

"No. Were you writing about something you didn't want me to know about?"

"No. Just writing to some friend."

"Some friend, huh," said Phi, obviously not believing Alvin. "Whatever. I won't press the matter any longer."

"So, what are you doing here, anyways?"

"Oh, just wanted to take a stroll, that's all."

"Uh-huh," said Alvin, obviously not believing Phi. "Well, I have a question for you. Why did you decided to trust me when the other wouldn't? What would you gain by trusting me?"

"That's simple. Your trust," answered Phi. "I trust you, so someday, you may trust me."

"Okay, so why do you trust me?"

"You're...interesting, that's why. Also, I wanted to give you a second chance is all. Sooner or later, the other will trust you too, but you need to build that trust. Oh, and there's another reason."

"And that is?"

"Well, it's because of your mother. You joined Exodus to save her, didn't you? Well, I know what it's like for someone to lose their parents, so I want to help you. There's no way I'm letting you experience letting your mother die."

Alvin smiled gently. "Thanks, kiddo," said Alvin, ruffling her head. "But I'm all grown-up, so I can take care of my own mother."

"I know that. So, let me ask you something. Do you trust me?"

"Well, not really, to be honest."

"Understanable," sighed Phi. "Whatever, so I'm leaving."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"To get some rest for tommorow, stupid. You get some too, alright?" Phi turned around and started heading back to the mansion for some rest. When she appeared at the entrance, she saw Jude and Milla chatting together. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but they were happy, and Phi saw some red in Jude's cheeks.

_'...You can both be happy, Jude and Milla,' _thought Phi. _'But, at the very least, take care of the Sophia in this world. If you don't, then I'll...hate the both of you forever.' _

* * *

**Alright, I'm finished here! So, I've got some important stuff to do, so see ya!**


	11. Fenmont

**Hey guys, welcome to another wonderful chapter of this story! Yeah, that's all I have to say, so enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Mage of Hope doesn't own Tales of Xillia, only the OCs! **

* * *

"Alvin! Hurry up! You're hogging up the bathroom!" shouted Phi, impatient. She was waiting for Alvin since the others were already outside, waiting for the two of them, but Alvin has bveen in the bathroom for who knows how long!

"Just hold on! Can't a man go to the bathroom in private?" called back Alvin. Finally, he came out, looking refreshed. "Jeez, I was only in there for a few minutes! No need to get off the wrong side of the bed!"

"Whatever. Are you finished? The others are already outside, waiting for us," informed Phi. "I'm sorry if I was rude eariler, but you were taking too long. Anyways, you ready?"

"Yeah." Once the two of them got outside, they saw everyone else waiting in front of the mansion with their backs turned. It looked like they were in the middle of a conversation. Alvin turned to Phi and asked, "Kinda curious what they're talking about. You don't mind me sneaking a peek?"

"You mean eavesdropping? Whatever. You're the grown-up here." Phi and Alvin sneaked into some bushes near the group and could completely hear what they were talking about.

"Where's Alvin and Phi?' wondered Jude.

"He's probably figuring out his next lie," said Elize, still unable to trust Alvin. Nobody could blame her, after what he did.

"What does everyone else think of Alvin and Phi? I understand you trust Phi more than Alvin, but do you feel safe going into battle with Alvin?"

"'Kinda curious,' huh?" muttered Phi, turning to Alvin.

"Hey! How was I supposed to know they were talking about me?" whispered back Alvin with a sheepish grin on his face.

"He's just trying to help out his mom, right? I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff," admitted Leia.

"I worry he himself will be unable to deal with that way of life much longer," said Rowen, worried.

Elize didn't say anything, but Teepo reminded her, "Don't forget! Alvin was the one who saved me from the bad guys!"

"What do you think, Milla?" asked Jude, turning to her.

"We'll need to keep up our guard around him until he reveals his hand. He remains trustsworthy in battle, at least," decided Milla. "That leaves us with Phi. She's the most mysterious to me."

"Yes, you're right. For all we know, she could be an Exodus agent just like Alvin," agreed Rowen. "We may know a bit about Alvin, but we really don't know anything about Phi."

"Oh! I just remembered! I know a little about Phi," revealed Leia. "I got her talking yesterday. She's never tasted ice cream before. She said she's an orphan, and that her parents are dead. But that's not the worst part. She hates her parents so much, that she'll only refer to them as their first names."

_'And this is why I don't like telling people about my past. Seriously, why can't they mind their own businesses?' _Phi wanted to complain outloud.

"Then, what about those scars on her body?" asked Elize,a bit frightened. "Did she hate them because-"

"No, I asked her about that too, but she told me that they never abused her. After that, she told me to just drop the subject," answered Leia.

"Oh! Phi's never heard of fairy tales before, so I read one to her," said Elize. "I read Little Red Riding Hood to her, but she still doesn't understand fairy tales. I don't think she grew up reading those kinds of stories."

Alvin quietly snickered at Phi, who angrily glared at him. "You didn't read fairy tales?" he whispered. A few seconds later, it took everything he had not to scream out loud from the painful injury he got on his foot from Phi.

"Hmm...that's not going to help much," said Milla. "Jude, you've been around her the most. Do you know anything?"

Jude hasn't really realized it, but now, he knew nothing about Phi except her name, her lack of fairy tale and ice cream knowledge, and her hatred for her parents. Who is she, really? The more he thought about it, the more suspicious Phi was.

"Sorry, I really don't know anything," apologized Jude. "I'm as clueless as the rest of you."

"Well, I think Phi's a spirit," said Milla. Everyone, except Alvin and Phi, groaned. How long was she going to bring that up?

"Milla, I really don't think she's a spirit," said Leia. "Would you just drop it already? Besides, how can you prove she is one? Besides the fact that you can sense she has power inside?"

"I'm not quite sure," said Milla. "But I will find out eventually. That's more reason to suspect her. Regardless, I can't trust her."

"Why? You said before that you would trust her completely after we left Kanbalar," reminded Jude.

"True, but I don't completely trust her. While it is true she's helped us out several times, she is still considered suspicious. Then again, in the future, my point of view might change. For now, I still think Phi is a spirit, and that Alvin is still suspicious as well."

Alvin turned to see if Phi was alright, but couldn't tell due to the fact that her bangs were clouding her expression. He couldn't tell if Phi was angry, sad, or annoyed, or maybe all of the choice. Suddenly, before he knew it, Phi stood up, pulling alongside Alvin with her.

"Act as if we just got here," whispered Phi as loud as she could for Alvin to hear her. Alvin immediantly understood her intention and played along.

"Now, now. It's not polite to talk about someone behind his back," said Alvin doing his hand signature as he and Phi were walking up to the group. "What can I say? You guys are my only allies."

"Um...did you hear what we just said?" asked Leia, a bit worried for Phi in case she and Alvin secretly eavesdropped their conversation.

"No, I arrived outside and saw Alvin. Then, we met up and saw the rest of you," lied Phi, acting normal and calm.

"That makes everyone. Let's be off," said Milla as if nothing fazed her.

"Please, wait!" shouted Elize, turning to Rowen. "Rowen, are you really going to fight with...you know?"

Rowen gave an assured smile before looking far away in the distance. "It is my fault that Nachtigal became the man he is. I am prepared to fight him when the time comes."

"You have our support," promised Jude. "I guess that means we're all ready."

_'Oh, so that's what he was talking about. Nachtigal is probably his close friend. I did remember Stella telling me about how her grandpa, Rowen, was old friends with Nachtigal,' _thought Phi.

After a few hours of riding the wyverns towards some grassy plains, the group finally reached a location that could get them the road to Fenmont, which was still far away, but better than nothing. After a few days of fighting through monsters, spending some nights out in the wilderness, and for some reason, Leia trying to learn a strange language similar to what Wingul was saying, only in rubbish, the group finally arrived in Fenmont at night.

However, in the bright city of Fenmont, it wasn;t a happy reunion. There were guards running around, some people crying, injured people being carried to hospitals, and other disastrous things. "What's going on?" wondered Jude, shocked.

"Hey, look!" cried Leia, pointing to something a bit far. The group turned and saw smoke coming from one of the largest buildings in Fenmont.

Milla and Jude recognized that building as the lab, where Jude's professor get killed and where they first met. "That's where the Lance of Kresnik is, let's go to the lab!" ordered Milla.

_'Never thought I would visit Fenmont again. Well, this is my first time visiting in this time, but this is where I used to live,' _thought Phi. _'Damn it, I rather not bring up bad memories, so I'm just going to pretend I don't know this place and play along.' _

Once arriving at the front entrance of the blue illuminating laboratory, Jude and the others saw a few unconscious soldiers and some doctors tending to their wounds. Jude kneeled down to a soldier and asked, "Are you okay?" Jude carefully removed the soldier's helmet as Leia and Elize started healing the other soldiers, and was shocked to see a familiar face. "Mr. Eldin?"

"Doc...doctor Jude?" Mr. Eldin whispered weakly.

"Don't move. You're hurt pretty badly."

"Listen to me, doc," said Mr. Eldin, gasping heavily. "She tricked us. One of the researchers was actually an Auj Oule spy. When I tried to arrest her, she blew up the entire testing chamber."

"Who was she?" asked Phi, obviously in a bad mood. Well, for one, she knows that the laboratory was also where people constructed human experiments, and she was once a victim to it many times.

"I...I don't know."

"We'll carry the wounded to the hospital. Come with me," said one of the doctors, offering his hand. Mr. Eldin took his hand and the doctor helped him to his feet before carrying him to the hospital.

"Sounds like Gaius is making his move," said Jude, standing up.

"We can't waste anymore time," announced Milla, turning to the laboratory doors which were guarded by two guards. "We'll have to go through with force. It's truly unfortunate."

"Wait, I have a better idea," said Phi, cracking her knuckles. "This'll only take a minute."

"Um...what are you going to do?" asked Elize, uneased. Everyone watched as Phi walked up to the guards very slowly.

"Please, help misters!" cried Phi, her face looking horrified and desperation. "T-there's a scary man right around in the back! I was playing with my doggie, w-when I saw a man running towards me with big hands! I got away, but my poor dog's all alone! Please, help!"

If Phi was at training school for actors, she would definitely get an A for sure! The two guards completely fallen for her act and nodded. "Okay, we'll go and check. Stay here, okay?" one of them said. The moment they turned around, Phi leaped off the ground in a flash and slammed her hand into the back of their necks so hard, they fell unconscious in a second.

"Hmm...interesting. Well done, Phi," praised Milla as she watched Phi hide the unconscious soldiers' bodies behind some rather rough bushes.

"W-what?! No! No way! That's not okay!" said Jude, panicking.

"Relax. After the guards wake up, they won't know what hit him. They'll just assume some Auj Oule spy knocked them out, is all," assured Phi. "Besides, I rather avoid attention here. Let's move already, people!"

"B-but you can't-you can't just-!" sputtered Jude, still shocked over what happened.

"Jude, sometimes there are things you can and cannot do," said Rowen, placing a hand on the young teenager's shoulder. "And perhaps Phi's plan was for the best."

"You're probably right..."

Actually, things got way worse inside. First off, there were guards inside, and they had to knock out any witnesses who saw them invading the laboratory. Second, Phi had gone missing ever since they entered, so no one had any idea where she was. And third, the lab was too big, so they ended up in dead ends a lot of times.

While walking around on the glass bridges in the laboratory, the group heard some noises like gun shots from the lower level and looked down just in time to see Phi pinning a young teenage scientist to the wall using her katana.

"What's she doing?" wondered Jude.

"I'm not looking for the way out! I asked for the location of the human experiments in this laboratory!" told Phi seriously. "Didn't you hear me?"

"B-believe me! I don't know what you're talking about!" cried out the scientsit. "There's never been human experimenting before in this lab! Besides, I only work in the lower levels of tha lab! Go ask the upper level scientists or something!"

"I don't like people I don't trust."

"Then go ask the soldiers! They're all over Fenmont and around here somewhere!"

"Everyone keeps telling me the same thing!"

"Because it's obvious!"

"Useless..." mumbled Phi under her breath before unsheathing her katana. Then, she hand chopped the scientist in the neck, knocking him out instantly. She picked him up by the collar, then threw him to the ground.

"Phi!" called Jude. "Up here!"

Phi looked up to see the others in the upper levels. "What are you guys doing there?" she called.

"We should be asking the same thing!" called back Jude. "What are you doing down there?"

Then, Phi started jumping onto crates, getting higher and higher like a monkey, until she grabbed hold of the upper level railings and landed to where Jude and the others were.

"Where were you? All of a sudden, you disappeared," asked Leia.

"I was trying to find out if they were performing human experiments in here, and wanted to free some survivors," explained Phi.

"Yeah, by finding out, you mean forcing them to cough out information, then knocking them out afterwards, right?" questioned Alvin a bit sarcastically.

"Pretty much."

"Phi, you can't just go around knocking people out!" said Jude.

"I don't. I only knock out the ones that are enemies to me."

"And you consider those innocent scientists enemies?"

"To be fair, it was out of self-defense since those scientists had weapons. I didn't plan to attack them, it just happened. So, where to now?"

"Well, I'm going to tell you what we're NOT going to do," said Jude. "We're obviously not going to force someone, and we're not going to knock them out afterwards. Right, guys?"

"Well...actually, I may have to agree on Phi's plan," admitted Leia.

"Yeah, seems legit," agreed Alvin.

"I'm afraid I'll have to agree on Phi's plan too, Jude. It'll be much faster to gather information," said Milla.

"Oh, come on! Isn't there anyone who won't resort to violence?"

"Um...I'm with you on this one, Jude," said Elize.

"Me too! You're the best buddy ever!" cheered Teepo.

"Even I have to agree that violence is not the best resort," replied Rowen.

"Whew, at least some people are on my side," sighed Jude in relief. Suddenly, a sudden thud was heard on the other side of a door nearby, making everyone turn to the noise. "What was that?" Immediantly, everyone ran to the door before opening it and hurrying inside.

Inside, there was lots of tanks of mysterious liquid inside, shocking everyone. But more shocking was an old innocent woman laying on the ground. Jude ran to her side and tried to wake her up.

"I don't know anything. I'm sorry," murmured the old woman.

"It's the mayor!" exclaimed Elize, kneeling down to her side.

"The mayor of Hamil?" wondered Milla, surprised. "They did say that the Rashugal army invaded the village."

After hearing that, the mayor gasped. "All of the villagers...frozen solid! No! No!"

"Hey! Come back to us! Don't give up!" encouraged Milla, a hint of desperation in her tone. All the mayor could do was utter a few sounds before passing away in Jude's arms.

"Oh no! Mayor!" cried Elize, turning away. Nobody blamed her, because they were doing the same.

"It's Professor Haus all over again," muttered Jude.

_'I'm going to take a guess and say that was Jude's teacher, and that he suffered the same way that old lady died,' _thought Phi.

"The villagers were frozen solid? What could that mean?" pondered Rowen, stroking his beard in deep thought. "Is this was Gaius' henchwoman meant when she said the power of the Great Spirit?"

"This woman was knocking on Death's door. She might have been delusional," suggested Alvin, crossing his arms.

"Either way, this is unforgivable," said Milla, comforting Elize.

"...Hey, just out of curiousity, did you check if there were other people like that lady in other rooms? I checked through all of the doors in the lower levels, but nothing," questioned Phi.

"No," said Rowen.

"Maybe there's something we can do," said Jude, climbing up a ladder. Everyone followed him upstairs and watched as he was typing something in a computer.

"Can this contraption help us?" asked Milla.

"It might let us look in on the Lance," replied Jude. Soon, something was appearing on the computer screen, surprising everyone. It wasn't much, but they could still see a person or two. "Here's the video feed."

However, the video feed only showed a large area where something huge like the Lance of Kresnik could be stored. No Lance of Kresnik was there, unfortunely.

"There's nothing there," commented Leia.

"If that's true, did that explosion destroy it?" wondered Milla. _'If it did, we better give the person who made that explosion a thank-you card,' _thought Phi sarcastically.

"Surely it would leave some wreckage behind," said Rowen. _'Way to spoil our victory, Rowen,' _thought Phi.

"Maybe it was moved before the explosion occured. That's the only logical explanation," suggested Milla. _'Now, that's just worse.' _

"Milla, look! I found a record of what happened!" said Jude, discovering another video being recorded. "Is that the spy Mr. Eldin was talking about?"

Now, it just showed a young girl just wandering around the laboratory. "That girl was the one who attacked us in the laboratory," said Milla, recognizing her. Soon, it showed Mr. Eldin talking to the young girl, but the young girl had something in her hands.

"Hey, what's she got there?" wondered Alvin. A loud BOOM sound was heard, and the computer screen went blank.

"It looks like someone discovered her ruse, so she detonated a bomb," replied Milla.

"But isn't she an Auj Oule spy?" asked Alvin. "If I were in her shoes, I wouldn't have risked my life like that even if my cover was blown. In a game of espionage, a dead body can still provide valuable intel."

"Then, how about this: Maybe she planned to blow up the Lance all along, and Mr. Eldin finding her was just a coincidence," theorized Jude.

"If Jude's theory is true, then it's most likely the girl didn't know the Lance had left the factory," supported Rowen.

"That means she's now on her way to the location where the Lance was taken," finished Alvin. "Or trying to find out where that location is."

"In either case, we might find something if we can catch her," said Milla.

"According to the time stamp left on the video, the explosion occured only half an hour ago," said Jude. "Which means she's probably still in the city."

_'Hmm...this reminds me of one of the characters future Leia told me,' _thought Phi. _'She did mention about a girl named Agria, and that since she had a terrible past, she kinda became insane. Also, for some reasons, Agria hated Leia's guts and insulted her. Yeah, sociopaths can be weird. Why did I think that girl was Agria anyways? There's no way someone like her could be Agria.' _

And how wrong she was a few minutes later.

The gang finally found the girl talking with some yellow masked guards in another part of the city. Phi shouted, "Hey, you! Girl in red! We have to talk to you!"

The girl in red turned around and saw Phi, Jude, and Milla, and the others that were running behind them. If anything, her looks were insane. "Yes, yes, yes! I recognize you two! I finally get to finish you off! And it's not even my birthday!" crackled the girl in red.

_'You know, she definitely reminds me of that insane character Agria,' _thought Phi, thinking of all this as a coincidence.

"Sorry to interrupt your little psychotic episiode, but we really need to ask you something," said Milla calmly.

The girl in red only laughed of madness. "And why would I tell you anything?"

"Wait, I have seen you before," said Rowen, recognizing her. "Is it possible? Are you Lady Nadia of the Travis House?"

"Huh?!" The girl seemed shocked by what Rowen said, and it seemed Rowen got his answer from her expression. "Oh. I dunno about anything about that stinkin' house. I'm Agria of the Shadowless, of the Chimeriad!"

_'Oh shit! I was right!' _thought Phi. _'Probably should have guessed from her insane behavior. Man, if I knew long ago I would be time traveling, I should have asked Future Leia about all her weaknesses! Guess it's too late now.' _

"So, you're working for Gaius," said Milla.

"What's it to you?' wondered Agria.

"You tried to destroy the Lance of Kresnik. We want to destroy it, too. That makes us allies. If you know where the Lance of Kresnik is, tell us."

_'No, no, no, no! That does not make us allies!' _thought Phi frantically. _'She's an enemy! I don't usually judge people based on their appearance or personality, but she's too insane! Besides, I read she's going to attack us!' _

Agria only laughed. "Like I'd tell you anything!"

"Please! You want to destroy it for the very same reason we do, right? Because it's dangerous?" pleaded Leia.

Agria said the one thing that shocked Leia. "You reek."

_'Future Leia did say she was honest and straight about things,' _thought Phi. _'Poor Leia.' _

"Ahahaha! Ooh! I know! Before I blow up the Lance of Kresnik, I'll blow up Rashugal to ittsy-bitsy bits! Ahahaha!"

"What is your problem?" demanded Leia. "We're working our butts off to save the world, and you think it's funny to stand in our way? What are you, five?"

"You think you can fill the world with rainbows and kittens just by working hard?" questioned Agria. "Ahahaha! That sweet reek of yours is giving me brain decay!"

"What's your beef with hard work?!" argued Leia.

"Zip it, you little pimple, or I'll pop you!"

"E-excuse me?!"

Finally having enough, Agria pulled out her boradsword while the two guards near her also whiped out their own weapons. Agria turned to Jude and Milla and shouted, "I still remembered the agony you caused me that day!"

"This girl is making my head hurt," admitted Milla as her team got out their weapons.

_'Agreed. That girl has serious issues,' _thought Phi. "Alright, Rowen, Elize, and Jude! Standby for backup and casting artes! The others will-"

"AHAHAHAHA!" crackeld Agria charging in recklessly. To everyone's surprise, she ran past Jude and was attacking Leia, who was blocking one of her attacks with her staff. "I'll get rid of you, Reekzilla, then the others are next!"

"What is your problem?!" grunted Leia.

"Leia!" cried Jude. Just then, a bullet flew past Jude and hit a guard that was going to attack Jude from behind. Jude saw Alvin saved him from immediante death by firing his gun.

"Stay focused, kid!" warned Alvin. Meanwhile, Phi was helping Milla take care of the other expert guard, who was blocking their attacks. Finally, Phi grabbed ahold of one of the arms before twisting it behind his back, making him cry out in pain. Milla then stabbed the guard, ending his life quickly before Phi released his dead body.

"All that's left is Agria! Let's finish this!" yelled Phi.

"Flaming Spin!" cried out Agria. She stabbed her boradsword in the ground and channeled fire spirits, surrounding herself with a defensive fire tornado. "AHAHAHAHA! How do you like me now?!"

"Stand back everyone!" ordered Rowen as Jude and Elize were healing Leia's wounds. "Waves come forth! Splash!" A water magic circle appeared above Agria, and sprung out a waterfall that washed away Agria's defensive tornado of flames. Everyone could hear her screams of pain as she was being swallowed by the huge pressure of water. After the tormenting was over, everyone saw a drenched Agria on the ground, not sure if she was dead or not.

"I'll go check her," decided Phi, sheathing her katana and leaping to where she was. Once she was near, however, Agria suddenly got up and with her boradsword, sliced Phi's stomach, blood spurting out of her body and staining Agria's clothes and a bit of her face.

"Phi!" yelled Jude, worried. Phi stood her ground, and easily dodged Agria second strike before jumping back. However, that caused some more pain in her body, considering her cut stomach was leaking out blood. Phi kneeled on her ground like a cat and winched in pain, sweat dripping down from her forehead.

"Damn it!" cursed Alvin as he and some others tried to rush in. Leia was faster and kneeled to Phi's side.

"Stop interferring!" screamed Agria, swunging her sword at them. As soon as she did, blazing flames came out of her broadsword, and a huge wall of flames stood way. "Why is it that people can't do what other people say?! You peons will get your turns once I finish these two losers off!"

"Just hold on! We'll be right there!" called Jude.

"Ahahaha! By the time you peons arrive, I'll have finish these two morons off!" crackled Agria sadistically as she licked some blood off her face. Hearing those words gave Phi some energy and willpower to fight.

With a loud cry, she leaped up into the air and swung her foot at Agria, who blocked it with the blunt side of her weapon. Before Agria has the chance to retaliate, Phi was already in the process of delivering another kick to her head. However, Agria blocked it successfully with her arm, allowing Phi to fling back a few paces. Phi couldn't take anymore hand-to-hand combat since she was already on her knees again, enduring the pain on her stomach, which was making the blood on her clothes spread.

"Ahahaa! You should be careful! If you continue to move, you're only gonna hasten your death! Well, no matter, because I'm going to kill you either way!" said Agria.

"Don't worry about me," said Phi, clutching her stomach. "I'll be fine. If you heal me, she's just going to attack you, and we can't let that happen."

"But, you'll die of blood loss!" cried Leia.

"No way...you know I'm too stubborn to die. Besides, there are more important things I have to do..." mumured Phi. "And-watch out!" Phi stood up in front of Leia just in time to receive a heavy kick from Agria and flunged to a wall.

"Phi!" screamed Leia. She glared angrily at Agria before standing up, her hands clutching tightly to her staff. "Why you-!"

"Come at me, pimple!" taunted Agria, stabbing her broadsword at the ground before channeling fire spirits. Leia took that taunt and charged towards Agria, determined to bet her and save Phi.

"Cerberus Strike!" Spinning around, Leia rapidly striked three times, but only blocked a weak fire arte from Agria, which also made Leia slid back a little.

"You're gonna die!" laughed Agria, pulling up her weapon and swinging at Leia several times. Leia managed to block most of them, but some left her cuts on her arms or legs.

"Take this!" Leia managed to deliver a blow by stabbing her staff at Agria's stomach. However, she was forced to block as Agria's sneering face taunted her mind.

"That didn't hurt one bit! Might have worked on a small school kid!" With that said, Agria's blows started to get more fiercer and fiercer, like the flames that were being produced on her blade.

Leia leaped upwards and started twirling around in the air, spinning faster and faster until she brought her staff down on Agria's blade. The moment the two weapons collided, a large sound was heard and a huge dust cloud surrounded the area. As soon as the cloud was cleared away, Agria and Leia were still standing, but they had injuries.

"Not bad at all, pimple! But, not as good as me!" shouted Agria, charging forward. Leia charged as well, but this time, she pushed aside Agria's broadsword, and punched Agria so hard, it made her slide back and might have shook the world.

"There...how do you like that?" panted Leia, impressed with herself.

"I think we cleared enough flames to go through now!" said Alvin.

"Are you certain? There's still some more flames," said Milla.

"Eh, it'll be fine! I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Agria's way too far away to hear us, and besides, she can just summon up a storm of flames in this distance, can she?"

'It's time you burned to a CRISP!" Agria screamed the last part out. Pillars of flames surrounded the entire area around her and almost looked like it'll reach the heavens. 'PYRO STORM!"

"AAAAHHHH!" screamed Leia, being knocked back by one of the flame pillars that nearly burned her. If she was more near to them, it wouldn't take even a minute for death to arrive. Also, the area where Milla and the others were, the flames that were once in their way grew larger and making more impossible for them to cross. Everyone glared at Alvin.

"Hey! How was I supposed to know she'd do that?" asked Alvin, sheepishly.

"Hey! You almost ruined my favorite dress!" complained Leia as soon as the flaming pillars died out. "That's it! I'm ending this battle here and now!"

"Oh? And what are you going to do, pimple?"

"And that's the last time you'll call me that!" Leia ran forwards twirling her staff in a circular motion as Agria swung her broadsword at her. Then, she threw her staff up into the air before leaping upwards and catching it. "Ready for this? Soulstroke Celebration!" With a heavy blow downwards, she struck so hard, it caused a little bit of an earthquake. Also, Agria was flung bacwards and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Leia! Phi!" called Jude when he and the others finally cleared the storm of flames that were in their way.

"Don't worry about me! What about Phi?" wondered Leia. She turned and saw Phi, bloody, motionless, and leaning up against the wall with one arm wrapped around the huge red stain on her belly and the other laying limply on the ground. Be wall behind her and to the side was smeared with blood. Leia's guess was that she must have been slammed to the wall from Agria's kick, then slid sideways as she crumpled to the ground.

"...Oh. You guys are done? Don't worry, I already treated my wound with some gels and bandages," said Phi as if she's talking normally.

"D-don't talk! Elize, can you please help me?" Jude cried out, running to Phi's side and healing her wound, even though she proclaimed she had already taken care of it. Elize had also helped heal Phi's wounds, so Phi's body was quickly recovering, aside from the blood that had spread out.

"...Milla, there's something more important, right? Go and ask Agria," ordered Phi. Milla nodded in agreement before walking towards Agria cautiously, taking out her blade just in case.

Agria slowly opened her eyes only to find a sword pointing down to her forehead. "I should warn you, I'm still not used to the sensation of sweating during exertion," warned Milla. "Couple that with my somewhat clumsy sword grip and well...You might consider being a bit more cooperative. Where is the Lance?"

"...A secret passageway runs under the laboratory. It connects to Orda Palace."

"That's the palace Nachtigal rules from,' answered Jude, helping Phi up on her feet.

"Is it still usable?" asked Milla to Agria.

"Only if you're a worm. It's caved in now."

"So, we can't use it." As soon as Milla lowered her guard while still in thought, Agria literally scrurried away as fast as she could.

"Hey, get back here!" cried Leia.

"Maxwell!" called Agria. "Someday, I'm gonna rip that pretty face of yours to pieces!" Then, she dramatically pointed her finger at Leia, who was surprised at this. "And you, pimple! Listen up! Work, work, work as hard as that scrawny body of yours can handle, and you'll still wind up with two things: jack and squat!"

"Why do yuo say stuff like that?!" shouted back Leia angrily as Agria ran off. "That girl has serious issues!"

"Hmm...Orda Palace. The enemy stronghold," mumbled Milla. "We should be careful."

"So, after all this, we're going to fight a king? Well, not everyone has the chance to fight a ruler like him," said Phi.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright? You did get sliced in the stomach," reminded Alvin.

"So? A wound like that's nothing once you closed it up. Besides, we shouldn't waste too much time here. Let's hurry up and go."

"I agree with her. Let's move," ordered Milla.

* * *

_Skit: Solution Part 2 _

"Hey! Is that Jude and Milla?" wondered Leia, looking at two wanted posters that showed Jude and Milla's faces, only it looked like a baby drew them.

"Don't worry! I'll take care of it!" said Phi, reading her hand to cast fireballs like the last time she did to the last bulletin board she set fire on in Xian Du.

"No, that won't solve anything," scolded Jude pulling Phi back using the back of her collar. "No setting fire on that board like last time you did."

"Sure." With that said, Phi took out her katana and in a few seconds, sliced the board into tiny bits, shocking everyone else.

"And another board was destroyed. Was this the second time?" asked Alvin, amused.

"Phi!"

"Hey, you said don't burn it down. You didn't say anything about not cutting it."

"Fine! No destroying it," ordered Jude.

* * *

_Skit: Solution Part 3 _

"Hey, look! Another bulletin board that has Milla and Jude's wanted posters!" pointed out Elize. Everyone else turned to Jude and Phi, wondering what they were going to do.

"Phi-"

"I know, Jude. Don't destroy it. I got that."

Jude sighed in relief. "Oh good." Instead, Phi tored the wanted posters of him and Milla off. "Phi!"

"Hey, I'm only tearing down the posters, that's all. Oh, hold on." Phi pulled out a velvet blanket and covered the entire bulletin board before rolling the board away to a different area. Everyone was puzzled by what she was doing, and saw from afar that she had written something and posted it on the blanket. Some people showed up, gave Phi something, and took the hidden bulletin board away with the blanket.

When Phi arrived, she was holding a bag of money in her hands. "Uh...where did you get the money?" asked Leia.

"Easy. I sold the bulletin board."

"You what?!" exclaimed Jude. "Okay, fine! No doing anything to the bulletin board, even selling it!"

"Sure, sure," said Phi calmly. Everyone else thought that she had a hidden grin under that calm face of hers.

* * *

_Skit: Solution part 4 _

"Hey, lookie here. Another bulletin board. And this time, there's so many posters of Milla and Jude," said Alvin. "So, whqat are you going to do, Phi?"

Before Jude could remind Phi, Phi stopped him. "Alright. No destroying or selling it, I get it. Besides, I won't be the one doing it."

"What do you mean?" asked Milla. Phi walked past her, and everyone saw her talking to a huge man with a sledgehammer. They saw her handing over the bag of money she received from selling the last bulletin board. Then, the huge man started walking towards the bulletin board with Phi right behind him.

Suddenly, the man brought his sledgehammer up before bringing it down, smashing the bulletin board to pieces. Then, he walked away, completely unharmed.

A very shocked Jude turned to Phi. "You PAID him to destroy that bulletin board?!"

Alvin laughed. "Man, this is getting very interesting!"

"Note to self, try to be more specific with Phi, especially with bulletin boards," muttered Leia.

* * *

_Skit: Solution part 5 _

"Why, I do believe this is the last bulletin board in Fenmont," said Rowen, stroking his beard as the other arrived behind him.

"Okay, Alvin, stay here with Phi. The rest of us will get supplies from that store over there," said Jude. "And Phi, no destroying, no harming, no selling, and no paying anyone to break that bulletin board."

"Right, right." As soon as they left, Phi turned to Alvin with the best puppy dog eyes she's got. "Alvin-"

"Whoa there! There's no way you're making me break that board! I do like making money, but not like this. Besides, you heard Jude. No paying."

"I wasn't going to ask you to break that," said Phi, giving Alvin a black marker. "I want you to do 'something' to Jude's poster."

"Wait, why am I the one doing this?"

"Because you're a worse drawer than me."

"But you're more experienced. As much as I enjoy this idea, I refuse to get in trouble just because a little girl just asked me to draw on poor Jude's face."

Phi was expecting that to happen. "Oh, you'll go on with it. Or else.'

"Or else what?"

"I'll cry."

"...What?"

"Oh, you heard me. I'll tear up and cry like a toddler who just dropped ice cream on the sidewalk, and I'll do it in front of our friends, your mother, your worst enemies, Presa especially, and any girl you like. And when they ask why, I'll say it's because, you wouldn't give me ice cream for my birthday."

"But today's not your birthday, is it?"

"It's not. But still, go for it."

"Alright, hand me the marker." A few minutes later, Alvin was finished. "There, I'm done!"

Phi looked and saw that the Jude in the poster had a mustache and hearts all around him. "What's that?"

"It's Jude, obviously."

"You spent 15 minutes to do a lot of damage to his reputation, and THIS is what you could come up with?"

"Alvin! Phi! We're back!" called Jude. "Alvin, did Phi do anything weird?

"Nope. Perfectly fine," said Alvin, ruffling Phi's head.

"Yup." _'At least he didn't notice his picture,' _thought Phi.

* * *

**Hey! Sorry for the wait, but I'm done now! In the next chapter, it's an all-out group war vs the king! Stay tune!**


End file.
